


Lights up and they know who you are

by nancy01



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Dom Liam Payne, Dom Louis Tomlinson, Dom Louis Tomlinson/Sub Harry Styles, Dom Niall Horan, Dom/sub, Fluff, Louis Tomlinson Calls Harry Styles Pet Names, Louis Tomlinson is Protective of Harry Styles, M/M, Overprotective Louis, Protective Louis Tomlinson, Quiet Harry, Shy Harry, Slow Burn, Sub Harry, Sub Harry Styles, Sub Zayn Malik
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:07:31
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 63,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24811297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nancy01/pseuds/nancy01
Summary: According to the world, One Direction consisted of Dominant Louis Tomlinson, Dominant Liam Payne and his Submissive Zayn Malik, Dominant Niall Horan and Dominant Harry Styles.Except Harry was most definitely not a Dom, and the only people who knew were Harry, his family and a couple of the people on the management team.Even the boys thought Harry was a Dom.Including Louis.OrBDSM AU where Harry is pretending to be a Dom cause management is shit (as always), and Harry struggles cause he's in love with Louis. The boys all help harry with his journey of coming to accept him being a sub
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Comments: 245
Kudos: 593





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DISCLAIMERS:
> 
> IN THIS CHAPTER THERE IS NON CONSENSUAL ACTIVITIES BETWEEN ONE OF THE BOYS AND AN OMC, THERE IS NO RAPE, BUT I HAVE TO WARN YOU.  
> PLEASE DON'T READ IF IT IS A TRIGGER. ITS NOT HUGELY IMPORTANT TO THE PLOT LINE IF YOU WISH TO SKIP IT.
> 
> THIS IS COMPLETELY FICTIONAL AND I WILL SUPPORT THE BOYS THROUGH WHATEVER. THIS IS PURELY FOR THE PLEASURE OF READING A FICTION STORY.
> 
> FURTHERMORE, THIS IS A BDSM AU STORY. IF YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT BDSM IS, THIS REALLY ISN'T FOR YOU AND I HAVE OTHER STORIES YOU CAN READ INSTEAD. 
> 
> I MAKE NO PROMISES ON THE SPEED OF UPDATES, BUT THE MORE COMMENTS THE QUICKER I WILL BE TO UPDATE.
> 
> LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WANNA SEE HAPPEN ;)
> 
> LASTLY, IF YOU HAVEN'T READ IT ALREADY, I HAVE A LITTLE SERIES OF BDSM AU LARRY FICS, WHICH IF YOU LIKE THIS YOU WILL LOVE THE SERIES CAUSE THEY ARE ALREADY TOGETHER, AND I LITERALLY LOVE THE SERIES SO MUCH.
> 
> IT CAN BE FOUND ON MY PAGE, I ONLY HAVE ONE SERIES EO ENJOY.
> 
> LOVE YOU ALL, IMMA SHUT UP NOW.

According to the world, One Direction consisted of Dominant Louis Tomlinson, Dominant Liam Payne and his Submissive Zayn Malik, Dominant Niall Horan and Dominant Harry Styles.

Except Harry was most definitely not a Dom, and the only people who knew were Harry, his family and a couple of the people on the management team.

Even the boys thought Harry was a Dom.

Including Louis.

Which was proving to be a massive problem for Harry as the Sub had all but fallen head over heals in love with him.

And it was getting harder and harder to keep lying to everyone, especially the people he loved.

Currently, they were sitting on the bus together, or well, Louis and Liam were playing a very loud and vocal game of FIFA, which for some reason included the two Dom's to be screaming at each other the whole time, Niall was laughing and pigging out on the left over nandos, and Harry was following a yoga tutorial on YouTube with Zayn.

"How do you-? I can't bend my back like that? I swear only the most flexible subs can - the fuck Harry? How are you doing that?" Zayn questioned in shock.

Harry frowned and un-bent his body to stand up straight. "I don't know, just followed what the woman said."

Zayn frowned. "But like, _I_ couldn't even do it and I'm a sub, Dom's aren't as flexible as we are."

Harry laughed (somewhat nervously) and scratched his head. "Well, I don't know, I'm a man of many wonders. Anyways, is that the end of the lesson?"

Zayn nods. "Yeah, um, I'm just gonna grab a banana. D'you want me to grab one for you?"

Harry nods, even though he'd rather go and get them himself for Zayn. Just to feel like he was useful for something.

Even if it was just a banana.

He really was struggling with this.

"Yes please."

Zayn smiles and walks out towards the kitchen, Harry closing the laptop and putting it somewhere safe.

"Hazza, you wanna play?"

Harry looks over and sees Louis holding a control towards him, but shakes his head.

"No, I'm good thanks. Don't really like FIFA anyways." Harry mumbles, accepting the banana from Zayn gratefully. "Um, I'm just gonna head the bunks for a nap, my head kinda hurts."

Louis frowns and retracts the arm. "Okay, you feeling alright?"

Harry fights the urge to whimper and sit in Louis' lap. As he tells himself everyday, he wasn't Louis' Sub.

He wasn't even a Sub.

"Just a headache. I'll be fine." He mutters before quickly leaving.

"Well that was weird." Niall comments, the game frozen on the TV.

"It's Harry. He's always weird." Zayn says back with a laugh.

"Zayn!" Louis exclaims.

"What? I'm not saying it to be a dick, I like Harry. But you have to admit he does weird things all the time."

"Like what?" Louis asks, offended for his best mate.

"Like, how many Dom's do you know who would turn down a game of FIFA and instead do yoga. That's weird." Zayn says.

Louis rolls his eyes. "Okay, so he doesn't like to fit stereotypes, since when was that a bad thing. He's the youngest in here, Zayn. He just hasn't had time to learn who he is as a Dom cause we're so fucking busy all of the time. He's only 17. He's still a kid."

Zayn blinked. "Okay, I'm sorry. Wasn't trying to be rude."

Liam sighed heavily. "Louis knock it off, yeah? He wasn't doing anything wrong, it's not our fault you have a weird obsession with Harry. Z, c'mere baby."

Zayn quickly stumbled over to his Dom and buried himself to his chest, arms wrapped tightly around Liam's waist. "I'm sorry, I swear I wasn't trying to be mean about Harry. I shouldn't have said it." He rambled.

Liam quickly shushed him. "It's okay sweetie, Louis' just being a dick. You didn't say anything wrong. It's okay."

Louis looked at the couple with guilty eyes. "I'm sorry, Zayn. I shouldn't have been so hard, Li's right, you didn't do anything wrong."

Zayn blinked up at Louis with wide eyes. "You're not mad?"

Louis laughed and held out his arms for Zayn to run into and hug tightly. "Of course I'm not mad, you idiot. Don't be stupid."

Zayn laughed and lightly slapped Louis' arms as he stood back next to Liam. "I'm not an idiot, or stupid."

Louis rolled his eyes jokingly. "Yeah yeah, whatever you say."

"He does have a point though." Niall interrupted, stealing Zayn's banana. "About Harry, I mean."

"Ni, knock it off..." Louis warned.

"No, I'm being serious. D'you ever wonder, like, if he really wants to be in the band with us? Or if he's just doing it cause he wanted to get famous?" 

Zayn gasps. "Niall, you can't say shit like that!"

"What?" He questions. "Think about it, if he can he'll avoid spending time with us rather than just join in on whatever we're doing, the only time he puts in any energy is when we're working. He doesn't even help write any of the songs on the album."

"Neither do I, to be fair." Zayn adds.

"Yeah, well, our management don't approve shit from you cause you're a sub, so it's not really your fault. We all know you _want_ to put stuff on the album, Z. Harry had the leverage you don't cause we live in a fucked up world." Liam bites out angrily, pulling Zayn in front of him and putting his arms around his waist with Zayn's back to his chest. "I swear one day we will sign with a different contract baby."

Zayn shakes his head. "It's fine, honestly. I can still help you guys with some of the songs."

Liam stays quiet but presses a kiss to the back of Zayn's head, a silent of way of telling him he's there for him and he loves him.

"Well, we all know our managements shit, but my point still stands. He's never properly opened up to us." Niall keeps going, causing Louis to roll his eyes and clench his fists.

"Yeah, well, maybe he's never opened up to you, but he's my best mate, and we tell each other everything. And there's no way Harry is only in this for the fame, anyone can tell that. He loves performing, it's his passion. It's so judgemental to say he's not a proper part of this band just cause he's a little more quiet than the rest of us." Louis argued.

"I never said that, Louis. Don't fucking put words in my mouth-"

"Okay! Can everyone just calm the fuck down, bloody hell!" Liam interrupted loudly. "It doesn't matter what you lot think, Harry is still and will always be our friend, before anything. Can we all stop judging him for shit he hasn't even do-, oh, hi Haz."

All heads turned quickly to see Harry standing in shock in the doorway.

"Um, why are you all shouting?" He asked quietly.

"We were, um, just deciding what we were, uh, gonna do about dinner. What you feeling? Zayn wants pizza but Niall's arguing for nandos." Louis lies, feeling guilty about talking about Harry behind his back.

"Oh right, and I guess Niall was talking about the chicken when he said I don't belong in this band then?" Harry questioned back angrily.

And fuck. Harry had heard everything.

Fuck.

"Hazza, we didn't mean-"

"Didn't mean what, Louis?!" He shouted, all emotions over ridden by the anger he was feeling. "You didn't mean that I was only in this for the fame? Or you didn't mean that I was lazy for not writing any songs? Or that I only put in energy when work is concerned?"

Louis shook his head rapidly. "Harry, we didn't say any of that! It was just, it wasn't like that, I swear! Please just calm down and we can talk!"

Harry laughed sarcastically. "You want me to calm down?! Fuck you guys, seriously. You wanna know, Niall, why I've 'never opened up to you'?. It's cause you've never made me feel safe or accepted. Ever. I thought we were all closer than this. But clearly we're fucking not, so don't tell me to fucking calm down!"

Harry very rarely got angry, but when he did he went absolutely ape shit. He's voice became very low and harsh, his eyes turning a shade of green so dark they could be mistaken for black and his hands shook violently.

He just saw fucking red.

Everyone else in the room went silent, all standing their silently in shock.

"Fuck this." Harry mumbled, spinning round and storming of the bus, slamming the door harshly behind him, leaving the rest of the lads sat shocked in silence.

"It's okay Zayn, don't worry." Louis hears Liam comfort, stroking a hand through his hair. "Harry's gonna be fine."

"He's mad at me." Came Zayn's quiet response, his eyes filling up with tears.

Which made Louis panic cause Zayn very rarely cried, and when he did not over something so small like a band argument.

"Hey, Z, don't get upset, buddy. Harry's just being an idiot, he's not mad at you. Probably just worried about personal stuff that he's pushing onto you. Don't cry." Louis comforts, walking over to the couple and rubbing Zayn's back.

"I'm sorry, I don't even know why I'm crying. I swear this is so unlike me, I'm sorry. Can you check if he's okay?" Zayn whimpers, snuggling into Liam's leather jacket.

Niall walks over to the bus and checks out the door, but Harry is nowhere to be seen.

"He's gone, sorry Z. Honestly, don't worry. Harry's fine, I promise. He's a 17 year old Dom, nothing bad is gonna happen to him. We go out on our own all the time." Niall tries to reassure.

"Yeah but-" Zayn start but then abruptly stops.

"But what, babe?"

Zayn fights a little and plays with his fingers before sighing. "I don't know, Harry's different. He's not exactly the most, uhm, _dominant_ Dom. People could still take advantage of him. He's young."

Zayn did have a point. Louis was 22, Zayn and Liam 20, Niall 19 and Harry 17. Which meant that even though he was a Dom, they all still had a protective side over him. 

"He just hasn't had time to find himself as a Dom, okay? He's upset, rightly so 'cause I would imagine it's not all that great to overhear your friends chatting shit behind your back, even if that's not what we meant. He's probably gonna go to a club, get smashed, kiss some fucking sub, and tomorrow we'll have to look after his hangover. And then we can all apologize properly, and let him know we're there for him. Okay?" Louis says very decisively.

Liam sighs. "Sure, I guess. But we still think you need to get over this crush you have on him, Lou." He says gently, making Louis frown.

"The fuck-?"

"Look, don't try and deny it. We all know you've had a crush on Harry since forever, and we've all heard Harry say he wouldn't ever date another Dom. You're just hurting yourself by staying too attached to him." Niall says in the kindest way he can.

Which considering the context of what he's saying isn't all that kind.

"I don't have a crush on Harry?" Louis says shakily with a laugh. He though he'd been more careful, keeping his thoughts about Harry to only consume him when he was in a shower and had time to pull himself off. 

No-one was supposed to find out.

"Lou, you don't have to lie to us, okay? We aren't gonna judge you, if you like Dom's that's cool, but don't feel like you can't tell us these things." Zayn adds quietly.

And that's the thing. 'Cause Louis _doesn't_ like other Dom's. He likes Subs.

Until Harry came along.

But even so, when he looks at literally any other Dom it's never in a romantic way. He has only ever felt that way towards Harry, and it's doing his fucking head in.

"It's not really any of you guys' business though, is it? Who I wanna fuck is up to me, and I'm telling you now I don't wanna fuck another Dom, and I don't wanna fuck Harry. So leave it alone." Louis says sternly.

Niall shrugs. "Okay, whatever. You do you man, but it's not good to pine after someone who will literally never like you back like that. You're gonna ruin your friendship."

Louis rolls his eyes and makes a point of not furthering that conversation, and instead just walking back over to his controller and starting the game, all conversation regarding Harry over.

Thank god.

-

Harry was pissed. 

He wasn't exactly sure at what or at whom, but he knew he was pissed and his headspace had really been all over the place for way too fucking long now, and all he really wanted was to be dommed by Louis, even if it was only once, but he knew Louis would never feel that way around him, especially after what he'd just heard, and it was with all of that that he made the very smart and responsible decision to go unsupervised to the first club he saw.

The bouncer didn't even question him, just took the fifty dollar note Harry handed him in a stealthy handshake and let him in. No questions asked.

Worked every single fucking time. 

He beelined for the bar, and two hours later was, as Louis had predicted, absolutely smashed.

He slammed his glass down on the bar a little too hard, making the bartender smirk at him, Harry giggling back.

"Oopsie." He said, jumping from his bar stool and blindly walking towards the dance floor, where he started dancing and immediately felt strong hands grip his hips and pull him into the chest of a very tall and strong Dom.

A very attractive Dom.

Not like Louis, but Harry needed to forget Louis.

This mad had Daddy energy written all over him, to which Harry moaned and said Daddy out loud, too drunk to get embarrassed as he grinded down hard onto the Dom's crotch.

"Fuck baby, you're so fit. Making Daddy so hard." The Dom growled, sucking love bites harshly into Harry's neck. "You're not wearing a collar, I take it you don't have a Dom?"

Harry shook his head as he tilted his head back, letting it rest on the Dom's shoulder and giving more access to his neck. "N-No, I don't have anyone."

"Fuck." The Dom moaned again. "You wanna come back to my place, baby? I'll show you what a good time is."

Somewhere in Harry's hazy brain he knew this didn't sound good. He didn't even know this guy's name, so it almost definitely wasn't safe to go back to his _home_.

The Dom could sense Harry's hesitation and hooked one arm around Harry's waist tightly to keep him in place, and his other hand reaching into Harry's trousers to rub him over his boxers.

Harry moaned so loudly he didn't know how no-one heard him, but he didn't really care.

"Fuck, Daddy. Harder." He moaned, squirming as much as he could beneath the tight grip he was in.

"You gonna come back to my place?"

Harry whimpered. "Can't, 'm on tour. Can't go disappearing, people are gonna go looking for me."

The Dom was starting to lose his patience here. All he wanted was a good fuck, and if this sub was good he'd keep him for a bit, getting rid of him when he got bored.

Normally subs weren't worth all this stress, but there was something special about the young boy who was seconds away from coming whilst grinding against his dick in a club.

"How about we go to the bathrooms then? Wanna my thick dick off? Let's go." The Dom grabbed Harry's wrist before he had a chance to say yes and dragged him into the men's toilet, shoving them into a cubicle and locking the door, pressing Harry harshly against the door and kissing him filthily.

Harry was beginning to lose track of what was happening and before he knew it he was on his knees in the cubicle.

He looked up and met eyes with the Dom. "I don't, I haven't done this before." He said embarrassed, his cheeks bright red.

He wasn't even sure if he wanted to be here.

If Harry was sober and not neglecting his Sub tendencies, he would realise that there were so many red flags in this situation.

He was under age.

He was under the influence of alcohol.

He hadn't actually said yes to coming to the bathroom.

They hadn't agreed on a safe work.

He didn't know anything about this man.

And on top of all that, he was Harry Styles. And if this got out his whole career would be over.

That's what his management had told him. 

_They could only afford having one Sub, and it worked cause of Zayn's relationship with Liam. It brought in the LGBT community, it was cute. But subs pined after Harry Styles. He was a 'womaniser'. He needed to look available to the public to keep them buying tour tickets, albums, merch._

_One direction would be over if Harry was a Sub._

That's what he'd been told aged 15, when they started.

At the time Harry's as very adamant that he would hide his classification for as long as possible, and then when the time was right, in a year or two, he'd come out as a Sub.

Now he was 17 and he felt like he'd never be able to tell the world who he really was.

He had no freedom.

But Harry was so drunk he wasn't really sure what was happening, and he didn't see all these red flags, and he wasn't really sure how to stop what was happening.

"That's okay, baby. Just open your mouth nice and wide and stay still for me, and I'll fuck right into it. Go on, open it for Daddy." The Dom encouraged, stroking Harry's hair behind his ear, which was oddly intimate.

Harry stared at the floor as his brain caught up with what was happening.

He was about to suck of a random Dom, who'd probably want to fuck Harry after.

His, fuck, his t shirt had been taken off at some point, Harry doesn't recall when, and he really wanted to be cuddled up with Louis.

Not this strange man.

"Fuck, I'm really sorry but, I can't do this. I'm not, I'm not a Sub. I need to go." Harry mumbled, trying to get up and yelping when the Dom shoves him back down with an foot on his shoulder. "Please." He whimpers.

The Dom laughs darkly and kneels down so he's squatting in front of Harry, almost eye level but still that little bit higher to show his power.

"Oh, little one, you think I give a shit if you don't want to be here?" He says sweetly with a nice smile before his true anger shows on his face and he slaps Harry, his head snapping to the side. "You fucking asked for this, you came onto me, grinding your pretty little arse against my fat cock, moaning into my ear. Don't try and fool me now by saying you're not a Sub. Daddy doesn't like it when you lie, little one."

Harry feels tears fill up in his eyes, his head so cloudy and foggy all he can do his whimper. "Please."

"See, you're gagging for it, baby. Now, let me fuck your mouth." The Dom says, spitting on Harry's face and standing up again, yanking his zip down and pulling his dick out.

Harry gulps looking at his dick. He was very much a virgin in ever sense of the word, the most he'd ever really done was kiss someone, but even then this had to be the biggest he'd ever see.

Fuck.

The Dom smirked. "Like what you see, little one? Bet you can feel this pounding into your tight arse for days, and you haven't even touched it yet. I'm gonna tear that arse off your in half. And your gonna fucking love it."

Harry was panicking big time and trying to remember everything there was about self defense that he was taught in his sub classes at school.

He glued his lips together when the Dom pushed the dick to his mouth.

"C'mon, you're a whore and you know it. Fucking open your mouth!" The Dom ordered.

Harry strategically pressed his back against the door until it his the lock and shifts his body the right, successfully moving the bolt as well.

Now the door is opened he just needs to distract the Dom so he can open the door and run. What happens after that he doesn't know, but he just needs to get out.

With a sudden surge of confidence Harry hits the Dom in the balls as hard as he can, making the Dom stagger and fall backwards onto the toilet.

"You fucking bitch-" he starts, but Harry doesn't hand about and instead just runs, out of the toilets through the club, and to the bouncer who had let him in earlier who was now guarding the exit door.

"Pal, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave if you don't put a shirt on immediately." He orders with a tired look on his face.

"Please can I borrow your phone, I need to call someone. I can't go out like this." Harry begs, tears streaming down his face as he keeps turning around to make sure the abusive Dom doesn't find him.

The Dom peers down at Harry. "You alright, kid?"

Harry nods, even though it's clear he isn't. "I just need to make the call, please. I can't give you any more money now but I can get you some after. I just need to call my friend." He pleads desperately.

The bouncer sighs and grips Harry's shoulders from behind, steering him behind some curtains and through a door, where they find themselves in some kind of lounge room, clearly meant just for staff.

Harry panics at being in close and private proximity with another Dom, and backs away. "No, please I can't do it, I just want to go home. Let me out!" He begs.

The bouncer puts his hands up and states directly at Harry. "I'm not going to do anything you don't want me to, okay? I'm not gonna hurt you and I'm not gonna touch you like that. I promise." He says softly and clearly.

Harry pulls his hands down from where he'd had them up, ready tomorrow fight, and comes out of the corner he had backed himself into.

"Come and sit up here." The bouncer calls, patting the surface of the counter in the kitchen part of the room. "I'll make you a cuppa first, yeah?"

Harry walks over slowly, keeping firm eye contact with the Dom before deciding he isn't a threat and he's also safer out here away from the public and that other Dom.

He reaches the counter and places his palms on it, jumping and twisting so he was sat up high on it, his legs dangling off the edge.

The bouncer was bustling around behind him for a few minutes, coming back round with two mugs of tea.

"I've put milk and two sugars, I think you need it." He explains, passing it over to Harry who gratefully accepts it and takes a small sip.

"Thank you." He whispers.

The bouncer smiles and stands in front of him. "It's no bother, honestly. Before we call your friend, though, I'm gonna need you to tell me what happened that got you so distressed. And I'm also gonna need you to tell me how old you really are."

Harry bites his lip and looks to the floor. "Are you gonna report me to the police?"

The Dom smiles, though not unkindly. "If I did, I'd be getting myself in a whole lot more trouble, Kid. How about you tell me, and then I'll tell you. Firstly, your full name."

Harry looks into the Dom's eyes and decides they are truthful. "Harry Styles."

The Dom smirks. "No way, like the real Harry Styles?! And I only let you get in with fifty dollars, fuck I could've upped it so much more than that."

Harry giggled quietly. "Not my fault you didn't look at me properly." He teases.

The Dom smiles, glad to cheer the sub up. "My name's Paul Higgins. How old are you?"

Harry looks at him. "17?"

Paul wiped the smile of his face. "Are you serious? Mate, you understand the age limit in this place is 21?!"

Harry frowned again. "I know, I'm sorry."

Paul sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Okay, it's okay. Just don't do it again, this place is in no way safe for you. Anyways, what exactly happened?"

Harry tried to buy himself some time. "You said you'd answer the questions too! How old are you?"

Paul laughed softly. "Alright bossy! I'm 41, if you must know. Now stop avoiding the question, I'm still at work you know! Spill."

Harry smiles softly and then looks at the floor, thinking about how he's gonna answer this. "Um, I drank quite a lot at the bar, and then I went to the dance area, and this guy like, pulled me towards him, and we like, uh, you know, _danced._ " Harry started, cheeks bright red in humiliation. "And then, um, he lasked me to go back to his place, but I didn't want to and then, um, I can't really remember, my mind is kinda hazy. But then we were in the toilets, and he tried to make me suck his, um, suck him off. But I don't know how and I really didn't want to! So, um, I said no and he slapped me. And then I managed to get out. Oh, and he spat on me as well."

Paul looked at the boy with sad eyes. He looked so small sitting there, so scared and vulnerable. He didn't even know this kid and he knew he didn't deserve it.

"I'm sorry that happened to you, Harry. But we can find him and report him to the police, okay? Did you want to call your friend now?"

Harry nodded and took the phone, dialling in Louis' number which he'd memorized for occasions like this.

With each ring Harry's heart rate increased and his anxiety grew, not knowing what to say or if he would get mad at him.

After a bit the phone went through to answer machine and Harry deflated, hanging up and sticking the phone out. "He's not picking up."

Why would he? It's an unknown number, they never answer unknown numbers.

"Isn't there anyone else you can call?"

Harry shook his head and tried to contain his tears. "Don't know their numbers. My phone got lost at some point, probably in the toilet."

"You want me to go grab it?"

"No!" Harry shouts, gasping immediately after. "I'm sorry! I didn't meant to shout. I just, I don't wanna be alone here. Please."

Paul nodded. "Okay, that's fine. I can stay here. Why don't you try ringing your friend again, and if he doesn't answer leave a voice mail and then he can ring you back."

Harry nods and takes the phone back again, carefully putting the number in and holding the phone to his ear, feeling disappointment when it goes to voicemail again.

He hears the beep and takes a big breath in.

"Um, hi Louis, it's Harry. If you get this can you call this number. Cheers."

He hangs up again and fiddles with the phone before looking up to Paul who seems to be staring at him in confusion. "What?"

Paul frowns. "I don't know, you just sounded different when you were speaking to your friend. You sounded like you had a guard up."

Harry searched the Dom's eyes. "Can you promise to keep a secret?"

Paul found it slightly concerning that this boy was so trusting of someone he didn't really know, and that he was happy to tell him possibly his biggest secret.

It didn't sit well with him. 

But if someone was gonna be there for him he would.

"Yeah, I promise."

Harry looks down and swings his legs for a bit before deciding to speak out loud.

"Noone knows I'm a Sub. I mean, obviously it's clear to you that I am, but I have to act differently around everyone else cause they all think I'm a Dom. And, one of the guys in my band, Louis, I really fucking love him. And he's never gonna feel the same cause he likes Sub's and he thinks I'm a Dom. As does the rest of the world." Harry says quietly, more tears falling down his face.

Paul puts his mug down and pulls Harry's small frame into his large one for a hug, Harry still sitting on the counter.

Harry let's out a sob and buries his face into Paul's shoulder, his thin arms wrapping tightly around the Dom's middle.

"I'm so sorry!" Harry hiccups, still sobbing.

Paul shushes him and hugs him tighter. "Shh, it's okay. You haven't got anything to apologize for. You're gonna be okay."

Harry tries to compose himself, taking a deep breath before pulling away, sad to leave the safe embrace of the Dom but knowing he needs to pull himself together.

"I'm fine, I swear. It's just the alcohol. Forget I said anything." Harry mumbles, avoiding eye contact with Paul.

"Harry it-"

The phone starts ringing and Harry apologizes to Paul before answering it.

"Harry?"

"Hi Louis, yeah it's me." Harry says.

"Where the fuck are you? We've been calling and texting you for hours, no-one knows where you are, you didn't bring security with you, what were you thinking? And why the hell are you calling from this number?! God, Harry you've had us all in pieces with worry, you never have any consideration for how your actions affect everyone els-"

"Something happened!" Harry blurted out, if not to shut Louis up cause if he shouted at him anymore he'd either start dropping or burst into tears. "I'm sorry, it's not my fault. Don't be mad?"

"Fuck, what do you mean something happened? Hazza are you okay? Where are you?"

"I'm at prysm, the one round the corner from that American diner. Can you, um, can you come and get me?" Harry says in a small voice. "I can't tell you what happened, I just need you to pick me up."

Louis must sense the urgency in Harry's voice cause he calms down on the interrogation after that.

"Okay. I'm on my way, Haz. I'm sorry for shouting at you, are you okay?" Louis says in concern, the sound of keys jingling in the background.

Harry almost melts. "Um, I guess. Um, when you get here you need to, uh, one second-" Harry pulls the phone away from his mouth and covers it with one hand, looking up to Paul and whispering, "what should he do when he gets here?"

"Just tell him to tell the bouncer at the door that he's here to see Paul, and he'll bring him through here. I'll speak to the guy now." Paul says, a walkie talkie already brought up to his mouth.

Harry brings the phone up to his own mouth. "Um, when you get here tell the bouncer at the entrance you're here to see Paul and he's gonna bring you through."

"Who the fuck is Paul?" Louis says some what possessively.

"He's another bouncer here. Can you please just come. Quickly." Harry says, trying his hardest not to beg.

"Okay. I'm in the car now, Haz, I'll only be a couple of minutes. Did you want me to see if the other boy's can come?" Louis says, a lot softer now than before.

"No, it's fine. I just want you to come." Harry says quietly back.

"I'm gonna have to hang up now, Haz, cause I'm driving. But if something happens just ring me and I'll pull over and answer, okay?"

"Okay. Love you." Harry says, freezing when he realises what he said. "I didn't mean it like that, just like a brother. I don't know what I'm saying I'm really drunk, just get here quickly. I'm gonna go now." He rambles, quickly hanging up and pressing the phone into Paul's hand, who has smirk on his face.

"You're not even that drunk anymore." He teases, making Harry blush.

"Yeah, well, Louis doesn't need to know that. Anyways, I know this is super annoying but my team is probably gonna have to get in contact with you at some point to sign, like, and NDA or something so you don't go tell the press everything that's happened. I'm really sorry." He says quietly.

Paul pulls the sub back in for another hug. "Stop apologizing, kiddo. Like I said, you haven't done anything wrong. I don't mind coming to sign an NDA, but you know I'm not gonna tell anyone. You have my word."

Harry smiles, dimples and all. "I know, I trust you."

Paul frowns with sad eyes again. "You know, it's a little concerning how quick you are to trust me. You barely even know me. You probably only felt safe approaching me and following me back here cause of my uniform."

Harry frowns. "That's not true!"

Paul raises an eyebrow. "So you would have approached me asking to use my phone, accepting a drink you didn't see me making, following me into a secluded area. Hugging me. A Dom. Of whom you don't know."

Harry shrugs and looks down. "Okay maybe I saw you as a point of safety cause your job is to stop shit kicking off in here at your a point of authority. I'd like to add I was running away from a man who was potentially gonna rape me, so maybe I wasn't thinking as clearly as I normally am."

Paul shrugs. "Maybe, or maybe you've just been pretending to be a Dom for so long the submissive side of you is feeling neglected. You show many signs of a neglected sub, Harry."

Harry scowls and crosses his arms. "You don't know me just as much as I don't know you. I've managed to convince even my best friend I'm a Dom for three fucking years, and no-ones ever thought I was a neglected Sub. I'm not a neglected Sub."

"It's not your fault-"

" 'm not a neglected Sub!" Harry shouts, shocking even himself with how loud and aggressive he was.

Paul doesn't say anything, just makes himself another tea, Harry turning the offer down, just sitting and swinging his legs.

He really wanted Louis to get here already, he was tired and the alcohol was wearing off, just making him more exhausted.

They sit in silence for a bit until suddenly the door slams open, Louis bursting through behind the bouncer and heading straight towards Harry.

"Fuck, oh my god, you scared us so much. Are you okay?" Louis questions, pulling Harry in for a hug, cradling his head to his chest.

Harry wraps his arms around Louis waist and breathes in deeply against his neck to try and calm himself down.

"I'm fine, thank you for coming to get me. Can we go?" Harry asks quietly.

Louis kisses the top of Harry's head (in a totally platonic and brotherly way) before pulling out of the hug.

"I think we should probably all have a chat first, yeah? I'm taking it you're, um, Peter?" Louis said off handedly, one hand resting on Harry's thigh.

Paul tried his hardest to hide his smirk. "Paul, yeah. You must be Louis. Nice to meet you." He says with a smile, holding his hand out for the Dom to shake.

Louis does so reluctantly, not sure why he finds this hatred towards Paul. There's really no reason too.

Except that Harry was alone with him and something bad has happened and Louis doesn't know what it was and he's sure Paul does.

"Anyways, I told him about the NDA thing. Lou please can we go home, you have his number to sort things out tomorrow. We need to sleep, cause we have that radio interview tomorrow at 6am, and if we don't hurry the alarms gonna go off before we even get there. Please, Lou." Harry begs, eyes wide and green staring at Louis.

Louis sighs. "Okay, yeah we can go. You, where the fuck is your top?"

Harry only now realises he'd been sitting here this whole time topless, Infront of Paul. And Louis.

Fuck, his Sub mark was on his left shoulder blade and Louis hadn't ever seen it before. 

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Why the fuck couldn't his have been on his thigh or something.

Fuck.

"Fuck."

Fuck, he probably shouldn't have said that outloud.

He just needed to make sure Louis stayed Infront of him.

"Haz?"

"I lost it. Can I wear yours?"

Louis frowns at him weirdly. "What the fuck am I supposed to wear?"

"But I'm-" he cuts off abruptly.

He'd been about to say but I'm a Sub. He really needed to get himself in check.

"You're...?" 

"Here, he can wear my fleece. I have another one in my locker." Paul offers, pulling his black fleece off and handing it to Harry, a t-shirt still on beneath.

Harry accepts the fleece and quickly shoves it over his head, rolling the sleeves up as it engulfs him.

"Yeah, I think you might be a smaller size than me." Paul says with a laugh. "Just make sure I get it back when I come see you to sign this bloody NDA yeah?"

Paul was just joking and Louis knows that, but Harry is now sitting there looking for too adorable in something that's not his.

"Look, _mate_ , that NDA is just to make sure Harry's career doesn't go down the drain, and his personal life can remain as it's supposed to be. Personal. Don't make a fucking fuss about it." He snaps, turning around to zip the top half of the zipper on the fleece, which kinda useless cause it only works from the neck to mid chest, but he doesn't want Harry getting cold.

Harry nearly melts at the caring and dominant action.

Paul hides another smirk, again knowing Louis is clearly being stupidly jealous.

Ahh, young love.

"I know, sorry. You guys need help getting back to your car?"

Louis rolls his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we'll be fine, thanks." He then turns back to harry again, looking into his eyes, his voice a lot softer this time. "Hey, you good if we head back now."

Harry nodded and jumped down, the fleece falling down to reach the top of his thigh, as he ran over to Paul and launched himself at him, arms wrapping tightly around his neck as Paul laughed and wrapped his arms around the Subs waist.

"Thank you. Seriously, for everything. I don't know what I would have done if you weren't here. Thank you for looking after me." He whispers, reaching on his tip toes to make the hug comfortable as Paul was a fair bit taller than him, as was everyone it seemed.

"It's alright kiddo. But think about what we talked about, seriously, you're only hurting yourself in the long run. You deserve better." Paul said, not unkindly.

Harry nodded and pulled away, walking back over to Louis. "Ready."

Louis just smiled and led the way out. Louis wanted to pull Harry in front of him, his back to his chest, and guide him protectively the way to the car. But he couldn't, and it killed him.

He didn't understand how Harry could be a Dom. Not in a rude way, but sometimes he swore he was so unlike a Dom. 

He kept reminding himself Harry was still young, which was probably why he found himself feeling this odd protectiveness over him. 

He tried telling himself it was brotherly love, he was just looking out for him as though Harry was his little brother.

That's what everyone called Harry anyways.

He pushed it away and unlocked the car that they had approached, both getting in either side and driving off.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you thank you thank you for reading until the end, you guys' mean so much to me.
> 
> I felt a lot of love for the Tied up like two ships series, so I'm really excited to see where this goes. 
> 
> Thank you for supporting me and my works, I uploaded my first work about a year ago, (I think slightly over a year) and it's honestly been such a rollar coaster since then. Thank you all so much.
> 
> For people wondering if I'll update the series, for sure. I have two draft at the moment, not finished yet, but I will try my hardest to get at least one finished and uploaded by the end of this week??
> 
> For my other story, I come running to you like a moth into a flame, I do really wanna continue it, it's just a matter of when. Hopefully soon.
> 
> Let me know what you wanna see updated first and I will do that.
> 
> Love you all again so much, mwah!!!
> 
> ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, thank you all so much for reading this, and thank you as well for all the love on chapter one. I'm really enjoyinh writing this fic, so hopefully that will mean regular updates.
> 
> Please feel free to comment, they always make me so happy and help motivate me to write, so thank you for those of you who do, big love to you all xxxx
> 
> Enjoy!

As soon as Harry got in the car he was asleep, curled up and facing away from Louis.

Louis quickly drove to the tour bus and parked up, getting out and walking round to Harry's side of the car, opening the door.

"Hazza? Wake up." He calls out gently, shaking Harry's shoulder.

Harry jolts awake and pushes Louis away quickly, holding his hands out in front of him in a defensive stance.

"Go away!" 

Louis had managed to find his footing and not fall to the floor, and carefully approached his best friend again.

"Haz, it's me, Louis! Calm down," he said in what he hoped was a reassuring way, his heart thumping in his chest violently.

Harry whimpers and slowly puts his hands down, looking up to Louis for confirmation. 

When he sees the bright blue eyes staring at him in concern he unbuckles his belt and launches himself at Louis in a hug, Louis staggering back a little before righting himself and wrapping Harry up in his arms.

Harry starts sobbing loudly, whispering sorry over and over again.

The rest of the boys hear the car pull up and all come out of the bus, shocked to see Harry crying uncontrollably on Louis.

"Lou?" Liam calls out, making Harry grip Louis harder and Louis looks up to make eye contact with the Dom.

"What happened?" Liam mouthed.

"Don't know." He mouths back before turning his attention back to Harry. "Shh, its alright, Haz. You're safe now, and the boys are all fine too. It's okay, calm down for me. You wanna head back to the bus?"

Harry takes a few deep breaths before nodding and stepping back, head down and standing behind Louis, staring decidedly at the floor and not into the concerned eyes of his band mates.

Louis grabs Harry's hand into his own and leads the way onto the bus, the rest of the boys following suite.

They head into the lounge room, Louis sitting down on one of the sofas with Harry next to him, curled up so his head was resting on Louis chest and his knees tucked up under him.

Louis wraps and arm around him and tries to reassure him everythings gonna be okay.

"Um, I'm gonna pop the kettle on, anyone want anything?" Niall asks, trying to break the tension.

"Yeah, me and Zayn will have a tea if your making, thanks Ni." Liam says, sitting down on the other sofa, pulling Zayn into his lap.

Liam was just wearing a pair of joggers, and Zayn a loose pair of shorts and a long sleeved white t shirt.

Zayn had been asleep when Louis had gotten the call from Louis, and Liam had let him sleep until they'd heard Louis pull up, so he was still sleepy, and a sleepy Zayn was a clingy Zayn, so he curled up into Liam's bare chest, his eyes still closed but still paying attention to the rest of the room.

"Yeah, I'll have a cuppa too, cheers Ni. Haz, you want anything?" Louis asks softly.

Harry shakes his head. 

"Okay, just three tea's then please, Ni." Louis says, stroking a hand through Harry's hair.

"Um, you can all, like, go to bed if you want too, you known. I'm fine, I swear." Harry says timidly.

"Harry, shut up, you're clearly not okay. The only person you're lying to is yourself." Zayn mumbles, nestling his head under Liam's neck, eyes still shut.

"Okay, well, I don't wanna talk about it, then. It's my business not yours, and I don't wanna talk about it. And I'm still mad about what you all said about me earlier, by the way. I'm not just gonna forget that." Harry says defensively, pulling away from Louis and pushing himself up to the edge of the sofa.

Louis tries to push away the bad feeling he gets when Harry moves away from him.

"Okay, let's all just take a breath. Hazza, we really didn't mean what you heard earlier. We shouldn't have been talking about you, oh thanks Ni, we shouldn't have been talking about you, and you shouldn't have heard it, okay? And we are really sorry. We were just worried about you." Louis says calmly, gratefully accepting the cup of tea from Niall who is now sitting next to Zayn and Liam on their sofa. "But it's clear you're clearly very shaken up by what happened, just talk to us."

"I don't want to. Its been a long night, and I just wanna sleep. I don't have to tell you lot shit." Harry mumbles.

"Bet you told that fucking Paul guy." Louis swears angrily under his breath, apparently not quiet enough though cause everyone heard him.

"The fuck is Paul?" Niall mumbles around a sandwich.

"Ni it's 2am, why the hell are you eating a sandwich?" Liam teases, Zayn sniggering against Liam's chest and Liam pressing a kiss to his head.

Niall flips the two off. "Screw you guys, I'm hungry. And I didn't sleep 'cause I was stressed about Harry, so let a man eat his sandwich in peace would ya?"

Harry looks up in shock. "Why were you stressing?"

Louis honestly finds it so adorable how confused and innocent he looks in this moment, if it wasn't for the situation.

Niall finishes his sandwich, chewing slowly whilst carefully considering his words.

"Well," he starts when he's swallowed. "You did just like of disappear on us, Haz. We didn't know where you were, what state you'd be when we found you, _if_ we'd ever find you. You didn't even take security with you. For we all knew you could be lying a ditch dead."

Harry flinches and looks down uncomfortably. " 'm sorry."

Louis sighs and rubs a hand over Harry's back. "Ni, lay off it a bit, would you? Hazza it's okay, Niall's okay now, aren't you-is that a fucking bruise on your face?!" Louis suddenly shouts, jumping off the sofa to squat Infront of Harry, gripping his chin harshly to push his face up to assess the bruise.

Harry whimpers as Louis touches his face. "Ow, Lou that hurts!" 

Louis ignores him. "Jesus Christ, Harry. What the fuck have you gotten yourself into? Did you start a fight with someone?" He asks sternly.

"No! I didn't, I wouldn't do that!" Harry protests, wriggling under Louis' tight grip.

"Harry you can keep wrestling to get out until you're fucking blue in the face but it's not gonna get you shit, so stop fucking moving," Louis orders, Harry stilling immediately and trying to conceal another whimper.

Liam gently manoeuvres Zayn off his lap as he walks over with Niall to get a proper look.

"Harry what the fuck?" Liam exclaims after seeing what Louis was talking about. It wasn't very obvious, but there was for sure a bruise forming that looked like it would be pretty nasty come morning.

Harry glues his lip shut and stares adamntly at the floor. He couldn't tell them what happened, 'cause it for sure would make it obvious he was a Sub, but if they kept shouting and using their Dom voices on him there was no way he'd be able to keep it all a secret.

"Harry, you're going to tell us exactly what the hell happened tonight, and you're going to tell us right now. I don't give a shit if you're tired, you could be in danger and you need to tell us what happened. Now!" Louis orders calmly.

"Zayn's allowed to sleep," Harry grumbles under his breath.

"Yes, but Zayn didn't go MIA on us, make us worry about where he was and how he was, and ring from a random fucking number at 1:30 in the morning, making Louis have to borrow a car to collect him, for him to come back in floods of tears and a massive bruise on his face. So yes, Zayn can sit there and try and fall asleep on the sofa, even though I doubt he will 'cause he's worried about you. Don't compare your shitty situation to my Sub!" Liam shouts heatedly, keeping a stern gaze on Harry.

"Okay, well, you can't order me around like you can with Zayn though, can you. As you said, he's _your_ fucking Sub, and therefore he has to do what you say. Me, on the other hand, I'm a Dom and even if I wasn't I'm not yours, so you can't boss me around. I'm not telling you lot shit," Harry spits out, fire burning in his eyes again.

"That's enough!" Louis orders, using his Dom voice and making all heads turn to look at him, even Zayn. "I've fucking had it tonight. Harry you may be a Dom, but you're still underage, and when we moved in together I signed a piece of paper to say I would act as your legal guardian until you turned 18. That remains until February, and therefore I am your legal guardian whilst you're living with me until February. And you will do as I told. Now, you're going to tell us all what happened tonight, and no-one is going to bed until then, so for everyone's sake, fucking hurry up and tell us!"

Harry worried his bottom lip between his teeth as he panicked over what he would say. "I can't!" he blurted out.

Louis sighed and rolled his eyes. "Haz, you can and you will. Just start from the begining. How did you get inside the club?"

"Um, I gave the bouncer on the door a 50 dollar note and he didn't ID me or ask anymore questions, just let me in," Harry said quietly.

"Fucks sake," Niall whispered under his breath. "Haz, you do realise how dangerous that was, right? You're 4 years under the age limit over here, there's a reason you can't go in."

"I know, I'm sorry. Won't do it again," he whispered.

"Okay, then what happened?" Louis pressed.

"Um, so then, I went to the bar, had quite a few drinks. And then I went to the dance floor, and uh, my mind's kinda hazy from then on," he lied, averting his eyes back to the floor.

"For fucks sake, Harry! We all know you're lying to us! Just fucking tell us what really happ-!"

"Stop shouting at me!" Harry shouted in fear, bursting back into tears straight away and curling upright into a ball, his head buried between his knees and his arms holding the top of it.

"Hazza-" Louis started.

"No! I can't do this anymore, I can't think straight. Leave me alone!" Harry kept shouting, slowly turning to whispers as he struggled to breathe.

"Fuck." Zayn muttered, finally getting off his sofa and walking over to Harry, pushing the three Dom's away.

"Haz, look at me. It's Zayn, I'm not gonna shout at you, babe, just look at me," He whispered, kneeling on the floor with his hands pressed against Harry's shoulders.

Harry slowly looked up timidly, looking at Zayn with panic. "I can't breathe, what's happening?" he whispered.

"Oh my God." Zayn whispered in horror, finally coming to the realisation. "Oh my God, Harry what the hell have you done?"

Harry was struggling to understand what Zayn was saying. His mind had completely hazed over and all he could think about was how bad of a Sub he was.

He'd failed, he was a bad boy, a bad _Sub_. Louis would never want him like this, everyone would hate him. He'd ruined his whole career and the rest of the boys' as well. Zayn knew, he could tell that he knew. Louis and Zayn had always been the hardest to lie to.

Louis 'cause he actually wanted Louis to like him back and he'd only do that if he thought he was a Sub. Which was futile now as he had cocked up being a Sub so epically badly no-one would ever want him as a Sub anymore.

And Zayn because he was also a Sub, and Sub's tended to be more aware of other Sub's. Probably cause society wasn't there for Sub's so they had to stick together, but maybe he was such a bad excuse of a Sub that it had taken this for him to realise.

Zayn shook Harry's legs to try and get his attention. "Harry! Harry look at me, it's okay, everything's going to be fine, I'll sort it out, please just breathe for me," he pleaded.

"Zayn, what's happening?" Liam asked panick-stricken.

Zayn ignored his Dom. "Hazza, I have to tell them. I'm sorry babes, but I can't help you. Who would you rather know?"

Harry shook his head, trying to find some kind of reality. "It's not what you think, please Zayn."

Zayn felt tears drip down his face. "Harry please don't do this, I have to tell them. You'll end up in hospital if you don't."

Harry could hear the three Dom's asking him and Zayn questions but he felt like he was in some kind of trance with just him and Zayn everything else was too blurry for him.

Harry fell off the sofa and launched himself at Zayn, gripping tightly around his neck, his head buried onto Zayn's shoulder as he cried harder and harder.

Harry whimpered at the contact, glad to get some form of contact but knowing he was being held by the wrong person. He wanted, no, needed Louis.

"Harry please calm down, babe. I need to tell one of them, now! Please pick, Louis, Liam or Niall." Zayn whispered, trying to hold back his own emotions until Harry was okay.

Harry didn't mean to but when Zayn said Louis' name out loud, he completely lost it.

He didn't even care if everyone found out at this point.

"Louis, I need him," he whispered.

Zayn nodded and looked over to find Louis already next to him after having heard his name being called.

"Li, please can you and Niall go wait in the bunks. I'll be there soon." Zayn pleaded, trying to convey to Liam how badly he needed them to fuck off.

Liam nodded and the two of them left, leaving just Zayn, Louis and Harry in the room together.

Harry kept clinging on tightly to Zayn, too scared to see Louis' reaction, even as Zayn was trying to get Harry to let go of him and go over to Louis.

"Hazza, c'mon. Louis' going to make it all okay. I'm sorry babe, but I can't help you." Zayn kept whispering, sighing when Harry would only shake his head and grip Zayn harder. 

Harry was sure that letting go of Zayn would kill him. He needed the contact.

"Zayn you need to tell me what's going on." Louis said in what he was hoping was a calming manner.

Zayn looked over at Louis as Harry buried his face further into his shoulder.

"No no no, don't tell him. I don't, Zayn he can't know, I don't want him to know, please don't tell him," he sobbed.

"I have to Haz. I'm really sorry," Zayn whispers, turning to Louis.

"Zayn tell me now," he orders sternly, making Harry whimper _again_.

"He's, fuck, Harry's dropping," he whispers, Harry crying harder and Louis' mouth falling open in an almost comical way if it wasn't for the situation.

"What?" he replies dumbly, making Zayn roll his eyes and press a small kiss to Harry's temple to try and reassure him.

"Harry's dropping." Zayn repeats again, shushing Harry when he whines. "It's okay, Haz. Louis can you fucking do something."

"I-I don't understand," Louis stutters, eyes flicking rapdily between Harry and Zayn. "What, fuck, what do you mean?"

Zayn rolls his eyes, trying to blink away his own tears and not sound shrill when he speaks back. "Louis, please can you fucking concentrate for two fucking seconds. Harry. Is. Dropping. He is a Sub and he is dropping. Now. And if you don't do something in the next three seconds I'm taking him to Niall and Liam cause if not he's going to pass out," Zayn says clearly, his voice wobbling a little.

Realisation finally seems to set in for Louis, and he feels like his whole world has come crashing down.

He had convinced himself so many times that Harry definitely was a Dom, that there could never be anything between the two of them.

He'd gotten it wrong, he'd gotten it so fucking wrong. And now his best friend was on the floor, fucking dropping, and he had no clue. This _whole_ time.

"Jesus, Hazza, darling what have you _done_?"Louis says in disbelief.

Harry whimpered and sobbed harder. Louis was dissapointed in him, he hated him, he'd been a bad Sub.

"Louis, can you _please_ do something..." Zayn whined, finally having lost his composure and letting the tears fall down his face.

"C'mere sweetheart, there's a good boy. You're such a good boy for me, c'mon, come and sit on my lap, love." Louis coaxed, finally springing into action and prying Harry off of Zayn.

Harry tried his hardest to stay clung onto Zayn, but Louis has a much stronger grip and manages to pull Harry away, Zayn watching with wide eyes as tears continue to stream down them.

"Go on, Harry. You need to go with Louis now. He's going to help you, he's going to make everything okay again. Please Harry, I can't do this," Zayn begs, all but sobbing as well now.

Louis brings Harry up so they're both sitting on the sofa, Harry stradling Louis' thighs but resisting against completely falling into his chest.

Louis holds Harry's face between his two palms and looks intently at him, the boy still sobbing uncontrollably. "Hazza, c'mon baby, look at me. I've got you, everything's going to be okay now...You're being such a good boy for me, I just need you to calm down a little now, can you do that for me?" he says in the calmest voice he can manage.

Harry stared intently into Louis' blue eyes and managed to calm himself down just by studying them. He finally found himself able to breathe again, and the tears slowly stop. He falls forwards and allows Louis to cradle his head to his chest.

"Good boy, Harry. You can go down for me now, baby. Close your eyes, I'll take care of everything. Just let go." 

Harry finds himself trusting Louis, and with that he shuts his eyes and feels himself drift off, to where he doesn't know , but he doesn't even care.

He drifts for a while before finally falling asleep on Louis, gripping Louis t-shirt tightly in his fists, his head resting comfortably against Louis' shoulder.

Louis keeps reasurring Harry until he feels his breathe even out, looking down to see the Sub, yes fucking Sub, asleep on him.

He hears a sniffle from the floor and looks up to see Zayn still looking worried and upset, tears still falling but less intesenly now.

"Hey, Z, why don't you go and see Liam," he whispers to the Sub, mindful of not waking Harry up.

Zayn shook his head and bit his nail. "Wanna make sure Haz's okay."

Louis smiles softly. "He's fine, darling. You did a good job with him, Zayn, you did really well. And he's asleep anyways. Liam's going to be worried if you don't go and see him soon, and me and Harry will come through in a minute. Go on, babe, everything is okay here."

Zayn nods and slowly stands up, walking out of the room whilst looking back behind him every two seconds to make sure Harry's still okay, biting his nail furiously.

Once he leaves the room and quietly shuts the door he starts running and leaps into Liam's arms when he finds him standing in the bed area talking in a deep conversation with Niall.

He promptly bursts into tears as soon as Liam wraps his strong arms around him, lifting him up and reassuring him that it was okay.

"C'mon Z, don't cry baby. This isn't your fault," Liam reassures.

Zayn hiccups as he sobs. "He's a Sub, Li. Harry's a fucking Sub and I didn't even realise. What kind of Sub does that make _me_?"

Zayn hears Niall swear loudly from behind him and even Liam looses his composure for a second, sitting down on the bottom bunk with Zayn now sitting on his lap.

"Bloody hell," he mutters in shock, Zayn whining and crying harder, knocking Liam out of his shock to his _own_ Sub. "Oh sweetheart, it's okay Z. That doesn't make you a bad Sub, I promise. None of us realised, I promise this isn't your fault, pup."

Zayn focuses hard on Zayn's words and breathes heavily for a bit, slowly stopping his cries until it's just a few silent tears running down his face.

"Are you _sure_ , Zayn?" Niall calls softly.

Zayn twists on Liam's lap so he's sitting sideways, able to see both Liam and Niall at the same time, nodding and lying his head against Liam's chest in exhaustion.

"He, um, he started dropping. That's how I knew for sure. Louis helped him go down and then he fell asleep. They're still out there now," he explained tiredly.

"Alright, let's get you to bed, pup. C'mon, it's been a long night for you," Liam offers, already pulling the two of them into the bunk they were sitting on and pulling Zayn into his chest who goes with no complaint.

"Oi, you tossers, that's my bed!" Niall exclaims, laughing when Liam doesn't turn around and just pushes his middle finger towards Niall through the curtain.

Niall also calls it a night (or morning really) and climbs to the bunk above Liam and Zayn, leaving the other bottom one for Louis and Harry, knowing it's almost inevitable they'll share a bunk tonight, and knowing it's easier for them to get in the bottom bunk.

He closes his eyes and almost drifts off to sleep when he hears the door opening again and one person walk in, Louis, carrying someone else, Harry.

He hears Louis place Harry into the bunk and climb in after him, Harry clearly asleep as he's lightly snoring, as Louis shuffles behind him.

"You're so fucking special to me, Hazza. I just wish you knew it."

-


	3. Chapter 3

Harry felt warm and safe wherever he was right now.

Someone had their arms wrapped around his small frame making him feel safe and protected from the world, and Harry's head was resting on his chest.

Logically, Harry should probably be scared. He didn't know where he was or who he was sleeping next to, (or what had happened prior to him for him to be sleeping next to someone), but he really didn't give a shit. For the first time in his whole life he felt at peace, and that was all that was important to him.

Slowly Harry became aware of people talking around him, one of those voices belonging to the chest he was sleeping on.

"It doesn't make any _sense_ though, why would he lie to us, to _me_?" the body says, sounding hurt.

"It kinda does make sense though. Not why he lied, but that he's a sub. I mean, he's never really wanted to hang out and do 'Dom' things with us, he'd always rather join Zayn and Lou on their shopping trips or whatever it is you guy's do. And it explains why Zayn's emotions have been all over the place recently, his inner sub was recognising that there was another sub on the bus that wasn't being looked after. I don't know how we didn't see it before..." another person says.

That sound's like Liam, always logical and making sense. He liked Liam.

Hand's started stroking through his curls, making Harry whine and bury his head further under the body's neck.

"I can't believe he's been struggling on his own the whole time. He's been neglected and we didn't help," an irish voice whispers, meaning that was Niall.

He wanted to get up and hug Niall and tell him he was fine, but he was too tired and comfortable where he was so he just tried to send Niall a telepathic message that he was fine.

That meant that if Niall and Liam's voices were coming from slightly far away, and the arms around him were too big to be Zayn's, either a random man had snuck into the bus and was chatting with the boy's like they'd been friends their whole lives, or it was Louis.

Please let it be Louis.

But if this was Louis, and if the boy's were talking about him, that meant they knew he was a sub.

 _Shit_.

Harry whined again and opened an eye, blinking in the light and staring straight ahead at the wall.

He needed to let the boy's know he wasn't a sub, because clearly something had happened last night that meant they all knew.

And Harry couldn't exactly open his mouth and just say he's not a sub, because then it would be clear he was lying. He had to make it believable.

Louis looked down to see Harry with his eyes open and pulled him up so they were now sitting with Harry on Louis' lap.

"Hi, sweetheart. Are you feeling any better?" Louis says softly.

Harry pushes Louis off, even though it feels like it might kill him, and stands up in the aisle between the two sets of bunks.

"Why are you hugging me like that and calling me sweetheart?" he mumbles in a deep voice, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

Louis, Liam and Niall all share a look of confusion and Harry notices Zayn asleep behind Liam.

"Harry, do you remember what happened last night?" Louis says carefully.

Harry remembers, he went to a club, some guy tried to pull some dodgy shit on him in a toilet, he found the nicest bouncer ever, Louis came to get him, and he started dropping.

"I remember you lot being assholes about how I wasn't part of the band, so I went to a club to hookup with someone, but it didn't go well, so Louis came to pick me up cause I can't drive, and then you all started pestering me when I told you to stop. Sorry, but right now I just want space, because I don't feel comfortable around you guys," he says instead, trying to sound angry.

Louis stood up angrily next to Harry, his legs hip width apart and his hands held out in front of him, making Harry want to drop to his knees in submission just from the very sight.

"Listen here, we know you are a sub Harry, and you know we do. Last night you made countless reckless decisions and when we got back to the bus you started dropping. You made all of us stressed because you didn't have the decency to let us know where you went, and Zayn was beyond scared. You're going to stop hiding who you truly are, and accept the fact you are a submissive. Do you understand?" Louis says, dominance radiating off of him and anger laced around every word.

Harry bows his head, "Yes sir."

"Good boy," Louis coaxes, almost making Harry melt into a puddle.

He was still feeling down from last night and with Louis using his Dom voice he could feel his mind slipping again.

Louis noticed and guided Harry to their lounge room, sitting on one of the sofas with his legs open and pointing to the space between them. "Kneel," he commands.

Harry does so, hearing Niall and Liam following them and sitting behind him on the other sofa.

"Good boy, Harry. You're following my order's so well, such a good boy," Louis says gently, stroking Harry's curls as Harry wraps a hand around Louis' ankle to try and ground himself more.

" 'm sorry," he whispers, eyes trained on the floor.

"I know, darling, it's okay. I'm not mad at you, you're still a good boy."

Harry nods and rests his head on Louis' inner thigh, too tired to hold himself up. 

They sit like that for a while longer until Harry doesn't feel like slipping anymore.

"Sir? I don't need to kneel anymore," he whispers, taking his hand off of Louis' ankle.

"Okay, thank you for telling me. Do you want to come and sit on my lap while we have a chat?" Louis says gently, carefully pulling Harry up when he nods his head.

"Okay, so, firstly we need to let you know that it's okay you're a sub. We aren't mad at you, or upset at you, we don't find it weird, we're absolutely okay with it. It isn't going to ruin our career, and we still love you just as much. Do you understand?" Louis says sternly.

Harry feels his eyes water as he looks up at Louis. "Why?"

Louis feels his heart break.

"Because you're still the same person, sweetheart. You're still Harry, you being a sub doesn't change that. You know we all love Zayn, why would you think anything different about you?"

Harry shifts uncomfortably, shrugging his shoulders and looking down.

"Uh-uh, we don't shrug our shoulders when we're asked a question, do we?" Louis says with a slight tug of Harry's hair, making the sub whimper.

"N-No Sir, sorry Sir. Um, I guess I just thought that cause we already had Zayn you wouldn't want another sub on tour, and cause a large portion of our fanbase are subs, it might make us lose fans because they like to fantasise about being with us. A-and I didn't want Zayn to feel like I was trying to push him out or anything. It's just easier being a Dom, safer too," Harry says, reciting everything he was told when he was 15.

"Harry you understand that none of that is true, right? And you would have been safe because we are here to look after you. And even if you didn't want to publicly be a Sub, you still should have told us," Liam says harshly from behind him, making Harry whine and bury his head on Louis' chest.

"Okay, alright, let's all just calm down. We don't want Harry dropping again, he's still kinda down. Niall can you grab him a banana or something from the kitchen and then we can talk to him about how things are gonna work now, cheers," Louis says as Niall leaves to grab two bananas from the kitchen, one for Harry and one for him.

"I'm right here, you know?" Harry grumbles, refusing to accept the banana when Niall hands it to him.

Louis rolls his eyes and takes the banana instead, un-peeling it and breaking off a chunk to offer to Harry.

Harry whines and tries to push his head away, making Louis place the main banana on his lip, gripping the back of Harry's head tightly with one hand to make him stay still, and forcing the piece of banana with the other hand.

"Eat it, Harry, and be a good boy, or I'll spank you right here and right now and then you can eat the banana. Your choice," he says shortly.

Harry decides he wants to be a good boy so he quickly opens his mouth and sucks the banana off of Louis' fingers, chewing happily on the mushy fruit with all pre irritation gone.

"Good boy, Haz. Now, we'd all appreciate it if you stopped being so mouthy to us and just do as your told because we have a radio interview very soon and it's still early, so none of us want to have you talking back to us. Understand?" Louis says, no room for argument.

"Yes Lou," Harry says, silently accepting the next piece of banana when it's offered to him.

"Okay, so, as you're a sub and you're underage, legally you need a Dom on your file to show that you are being looked after properly. Can you tell me who is currently on your file?"

Harry squirms again, nervously looking over to Niall and Liam who are giving him expected looks.

Harry sighs and looks down at his lap. "Don't have one..." he mumbles quietly.

Louis' eyes shoot up to look at Niall and Liam who are looking just as confused and shocked as he feels.

"Haz, how can you not have one on file. That's _illegal_ , sweetie," Niall says gently.

Harry fidgets with his fingers. "When we first got signed, Simon pulled me in for a meeting cause he knew I was a Sub. He said that, um, because we hadn't publicly announced our classifications yet, it would be a good idea to just say I was a Dom. And then, um, please don't get mad?" Harry whispered.

Louis looks at him sternly. "Just tell me."

Harry sighs. "H-He said it was too risky with all my documentations to say I was a Sub, like my passport and birth certificate and file and all that, so he, um, he got me new ones."

Harry swears he can hear the anger growing from within the three Dom's.

"And you agreed to this?" Niall says incredulously.

"It's not like I had much of a choice. I was 15 Ni, and I didn't want him to pull the opportunity of being signed away from me. I-I thought he knew what was best for me. He made it all make sense..." Harry mutters.

Louis starts stroking his hands through Harry's hair again to try and comfort him. "Why didn't you come and talk to us about it? Ask for our opinion?"

"Simon said th-that the more people who knew, the more dangerous it would be. C-Cause like, there would be a higher chance of it getting out to the world," Harry says.

Louis wants to fucking kill Simon. The thought of fifteen year old Harry, with his wide green eyes, wild curly hair and baby face, trusting every word that dickhead was telling him, believing it would be a bad thing if it ever got out he was a sub, trusting Simon to illegally change his forms of identification, it just makes him want to fucking kill someone.

"Fucking hell. Harry, that's really fucking illegal what Simon did. I swear to god we're done with them, I'm fucking done with their bull shit!" Louis says, gently pushing Harry off to the other side of the sofa and standing up to pace the small part of the bus they're in. 

"Lou just take a second to calm dow-"

"No, Liam. Harry was underage, _so_ fucking underage, and he made him use an illegal passport. That means, fucking hell, Harry doesn't even have a passport, he doesn't have any legal form of identification. Simon has so much fucking control over Harry, and we didn't even know. He's a piece of absolute shit! How-!"

"I know, Lou. But you need to calm down-"

"Niall how am is supposed to calm the fuck down-!"

"Why are you all shouting?!" Zayn says quietly, but somehow it manages to cut across all the shouting cause he's distressed and scared and someone is crying.

Fuck, Harry's crying.

"Baby, can you take Harry back to your bed and have a little cuddle with him. Don't worry about us," Liam says, or more like orders, giving Zayn a small push towards Harry.

Zayn nods and goes over to Harry, gently taking his hand and leading him back to their bunks.

"Shit this is so fucking bad," Niall swears as soon as the two subs are out of view.

"Look can you both calm the fuck down! Zayn heard you guys earlier and I don't want him walking back in here scared again cause you guys don't know how to control your anger. We will have a meeting with modest later today about Harry's classification, and until then we just need to talk him through what's going to happen now. Seeing as he doesn't have a Dom on his file, he'll have to pick someone who is currently on tour with us. Louis, as his legal guardian, you will have to give your consent to whoever he picks. Zayn chose to have a member of management at first, but from what he said it was hell, so I'd rather he picks one of us, or all of us," Liam says forcefully.

"Okay, that's fine. I'm sorry about scaring Z, Liam. I just, how can they do that? It's so heartless," Louis whispers.

"I know, I know. And then to push the 'womaniser' label on him for so long at such a young age as well. It was bad enough when he was a Dom, but to do that to a Sub? It's so fucked up," Liam says back, stressfully running a hand through his hair.

"I wish he'd have told _someone_ , anyone. Just so he didn't have to go through it alone for all that time. We have to be there for him now, I don't want him to struggle alone anymore," Niall says, ever the more emotional Dom.

"Yeah, I think we can all agree on that. Shall I go get them then, so we can explain it to him. I'd rather get it over with before we have to leave for this bloody interview," Louis says.

"Yeah sure, being Zayn as well. I think it's right he should know whats happening," Liam says with a tired smile.

-

Harry had been so glad when Zayn had come to rescue him. He decided Zayn was his favourite, and they could just live a life together, just the two of them, with no shouty or angry Dom's around them.

Zayn climbs into his bunk, pulling Harry in and tugging his soft blanket over the two of them.

The two subs hold each other tightly, both needing the comfort as much as each other.

"It's gonna be okay, H. I promise. It's really not all that bad being a Sub, I swear. The boys will help you," Zayn whispers, snuggling closer to Harry.

"I can't do it, Z. I'm really really scared," Harry admits, the darkness from the bunk making it easier for him to admit the truth.

"You can, H. Everything's going to get easier for you now. You won't have to hide anymore," Zayn reassures, holding the teenager tighter.

They stay quiet for a while longer until Harry finally blurts what's been on his mind since Zayn found out he was a Sub yesterday.

"I don't meant to take the attention away from you!" he rushes out, hiding his head in Zayn's neck.

Zayn stills in shock, before smiling lightly. "Babe, I don't feel like that at all. Trust me, it will be nice to have their attention off of me for a while. I've always wanted another Sub in the band, and something in me had always felt off knowing I was the only one. I think my inner sub knew something wasn't right. I finally feel complete now I know you're a sub too. I can't even tell you how happy I am, you're like my little baby brother that I get to look after now," he says with a laugh.

"You're not mad?" Harry checks, making Zayn laugh again.

"No, babe. I'm not mad, I'm so excited. I just wish this didn't happen to you, I wish you didn't have to feel like you needed to hide yourself for so long. That's really shit," Zayn says sadly.

"It's not that bad, I'm good at hiding my feelings now," Harry says quietly.

"That's not a good thing, H. You should tell other people how you're really feeling," Zayn replies.

"Even if I'm feeling bad?"

"Even if your feeling bad," Zayn confirms.

"Even if it might make the person I'm telling sad or upset?" Harry whispers timidly.

"Yes, even then. You should always tell people how you feel, and you know you can always come and tell me if it's easier telling another sub. Although Louis might not be all that happy about it," Zayn says with a laugh.

"Do you think he'll be my Dom now?"

"You'll have to pick, babe. As he's your guardian it would make sense for it to be him, but I know I didn't want Liam when we first got in the band cause I was scared incase he didn't feel the same way about me as I did to him. But it's up to you," Zayn says.

"O-Okay. Um, do you think Louis would wanna be my Dom?" Harry says with a small voice, like he's scared of rejection.

Zayn smirks. "How are you even asking me that? Of course he would wanna be your Dom, I think there would be issues if you picked anyone else. But be aware, he's super strict. Any time Liam's been away and he's been my stand in Dom, I swear to god I put one toe out of line and he gave me a punishment."

"I like that about him, though. But it's like you said, it could get messy if he only wants to be Dom and that's it. If he doesn't wanna be anything more. Don't tell anyone but I really like him, Z," Harry whispers secretly.

Zayn smiles fondly. "I know, babe."

"You do?! How?"

"It's always been kinda obvious there's more between you two than just friends, but I guess I kinda always ignored it cause you were both Dom's and you both said you'd never date another Dom. Now it makes sense," Zayn says honestly.

Harry feels butterflies in his stomach as a smile grows on his face. He really hopes Louis likes him back, but he doesn't wanna get his hopes up high just in case.

"Thank you. For everything. I don't remember much about last night but I remember you holding me and it made me feel like I wasn't going to die. I'm really sorry, I know it must have been really difficult for you too, but I am really grateful, Z. I love you," Harry says softly.

Zayn kisses Harry's temple. "It's okay, babe. I love you too."

Harry felt like maybe this wouldn't be such a bad thing anymore. Maybe being a sub would be okay, and his world wasn't going to fall at his feet.

He smiles as he continues hugging Zayn, knowing that even if everyone else hates him at least he gets to have a friend in Zayn. Even if it wasn't the same as Louis, he was glad to have a friend who understood how he felt.

"Haz?"

Shit, it was Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading xx
> 
> Feel free to comment or leave kudos. 
> 
> Let me know how you're feeling about this fic, what you like/don't like, anything you want to happen in the future xx
> 
> Have a good day 😘😘


	4. Chapter 4

Harry froze and stayed tense in Zayn's arms.

"Harry I know you're in there, darling. Can you come out for me please?" Louis calls again.

Harry still doesn't move, making Zayn rolls his eyes and unwrap his arms.

"Go on, Haz. Everything will be fine, just go and talk the them. I'll come with you if you want?" Zayn whispers even though he knows Louis can still here.

"Yes please," Harry whispers back before opening the curtain and jumping out the bunk bed, Zayn right behind him.

"We need to have a chat with you, nothing bad, just to explain how things are going to work around here now. Zayn, Li says you can join as well if you want," Louis says, turning around and leading the two subs back into the lounge room.

"Hey pup, wanna come for a cuddle?" Liam says softly when the three boys enter the room, Zayn immediately walking over to his Dom and cuddling up on his lap.

Harry looks at the two longingly, wishing not for the first time that he had a relationship as special as that. Preferably with Louis.

"Alright, where do you want to sit Haz? You can sit next to me on the sofa, you can sit with Ni on his or you can kneel on the floor. What is it?" Louis says.

Harry loves it when Louis makes things simple for him, gives him a few options to pick from rather than just asking the question.

"Um, can I sit next to you, please?" Harry says quietly.

Louis smiles and nods, walking over to the sofa and sitting down, patting the space next to him for Harry to sit on.

Harry sits down so closely to Louis he may as well be in his lap, but manages to control himself and sits quietly, waiting to see what happens.

"Okay, so. As for right now, we aren't sure what is going to happen to your file, or your passport or birth certificate, but we're going to have a meeting as soon as possible to sort it all out. In the mean time, as you are still a sub and underage, you will need a Dom. This doesn't need to be a romantic relationship, obviously, as most Subs who are your age have their parents or siblings as their Dom's, however in your situation it will need to be someone on tour. It's up to you who you pick, but as your legal guardian I have final say. Any questions so far?" Louis says, almost like he's reading from a text book.

Harry feels slightly overwhelmed with all the information but nods anyways.

"Good boy. Okay, your Dom, or Dom's if you chose multiple, will give you a list of rules which you will then have to follow, failure to do so will obviously result in a punishment. It will be up to you and your Dom to decide if you want to wear a collar, and if you decide not to publicly announce you are a Dom, we can sort you out with a day collar. Or well, your Dom can. Clear?" Louis continues.

"Yes sir," Harry replies.

"Alright Haz, as Louis is your legal guardian, and that will stay that way, if you don't feel safe or comfortable with your Dom, you can always go to him and will have the authority to remove you from the situation. If you chose to pick Louis as your Dom, we can pick you a new legal guardian, but you know you can always talk to one of us, so we don't think that will be necessary," Liam explains, rubbing Zayn's hair softly.

"O-Okay, um, what about when I turn 18?" Harry asks timidly.

The boys all look shiftily between each other before Niall rolls his eyes and starts talking. "We've decided you'll have a legal guardian until you're 21 rather than 18."

"What?!" Harry shouts, standing up from the sofa. "That's not fair, I don't _need_ one anyways at the moment, why would I need one for another three and a bit years? That so ridiculous!"

"Harry, I've already warned you about that attitude of yours. Do you want your first punishment to he right now?" Louis says sternly, pointing out the sofa to get Harry to sit back down, which he does.

"Louis, please, that's not fair," Harry says with tears in his eyes, "none of you guys have one, including Niall who's 19 and Zayn who's a Sub and 20. I don't wanna be treated like a child," he whispers.

Louis reaches out and pulls Harry in for a hug, rubbing his back to try and calm him down. "We're not doing it because we think you're a child, Haz. But you're not Niall or Zayn and you have different needs, and that's what we believe is the best for you. You've been neglected for a very long time, sweetheart. We just doing what is best for you," he says softly.

"If, in like, a year's time we decide I don't need one anymore can we change it, or is it definitely going to be for another three years?" Harry whispers, letting Louis pull him fully into his lap.

"No, it's going to be for three years. We aren't budging on this, love. It's just for your safety, we promise. It'll be the same as it is now. It doesn't affect your life that badly does it?" Louis asks.

Harry shrugs. "Not really, but I still have to get your permission for anything big. What if wanna do stuff on my own? Or something secretly?"

"And that's the kind of stuff that can get you in serious danger, Haz. That's why we're doing it. I know this is wrong, but because I thought you were a Dom, I wasn't looking out for you as much as I should have been. And that's going to change, okay?" Louis asks carefully.

Harry nods. "It's not like I really have a choice, but I understand where you're coming from. And I appreciate it, honestly. Thank you, Lou."

"It's no problem," Louis says back with a soft kiss to Harry's forehead, making Harry smile widely and hide his face in Louis' neck with a pink tinge to his cheeks.

"Okay, so, you can either pick me, or Niall, or Louis. Or if you really want, someone from our management, but there's no way Louis will approve of that. Your stylist Caroline is a Dom, so you can ask her if you want, but we'll need to get her permission first. Or if you'd prefer you can pick all three of us. Who's it going to be?" Liam asks.

Harry panics. He wants Louis, but like Zayn said he doesn't want to be Louis' sub and it quickly become apparent that's all Louis is looking for. And then what happens if Louis meets someone and then he gets cast aside again.

If he picks Liam, would Zayn become jealous? Would that fuck up their whole relationship? Harry knows he wouldn't want Louis to Dom someone who wasnt him, especially if they were in a relationship!

If he picks Niall, would he become frustrated with the burden of now having to look after a sub he doesn't want? Will it interfere with his chances of meeting someone? Harry doesn't know many nineteen year olds who are willing to look after their seventeen year old sub friend.

And he likes Caroline, but that would be so weird, and he does trust her as much as the boys.

He looks over to Zayn helplessly, who shrugs his shoulders as if to say ' _its up to you mate.'_

"I-I don't know? I don't know what to do.." Harry whines helplessly.

"Okay, that's okay Hazza. Calm down darling, I can feel your heart pounding. Why don't you talk us through what's going on in your head? You know you can ask questions if it's going to help your decision making. This is a big deal, Haz. It's okay to want to get it right," Louis says calmingly.

"U-um, if I pick someone, and something changes in the future or it doesn't work or something, a-am I allowed to change?" he asks timidly.

"Well, technically it's up to your Dom who becomes your new Dom or if you _can_ change, and hypothetically speaking if you felt your Dom was abusive, and you wanted to change but they wouldn't let you, in your situation you could tell your legal guardian, or if you didn't have one you would go to the police. However, that obviously won't happen with us, and if you want to change Dom's from one of us to someone else, as long as we deemed the new Dom safe, the yes, you could switch," Niall explains.

"Okay, and if, um, of I did pick one of you, and you met someone who you wanted to pursue, what would happen to me?" he asks, again scared to know the answer.

"Haz, you're not going to be ignored again, okay? If one of us _was_ to get a girlfriend or boyfriend, and we were also your Dom, then we would still continue to be your Dom. And if they weren't okay with that then that's the Subs fault. You're not going to be neglected again, I promise," Liam explains.

"But if I was dating Lo- if I was dating _someone_ , I wouldn't want them to have another Sub. Does that make me a bad person?" Harry asks quietly, hoping no-one noticed his slip up.

"Yeah but that's because you're thinking of this random sub as someone who Louis would be romantically interested in, and he wouldn't. It's like if you pick Liam, I'm not gonna get jealous or worried about him developing feelings for you. It wouldn't be a random sub, it would be someone who we knew anyways," Zayn explains, freezing when he sees Harry glaring at him and realising he also slipped up. "Um, I meant if you was dating _someone._ I'm just tired ignore me," he babbles, avoiding further eye contact with Harry.

The three Dom's smirk, all knowing Harry has a crush on Louis, and finding it cute how they keep trying to hide it.

"Anymore questions, sweetie?" Louis asks, biting his lip to hide his smirk.

Harry has no more questions, but he still doesn't know what to do, and it's really stressing him out. He feels like he'll feel trapped if one of them is his Dom, even if they let him switch, he won't be able to be free of a Dom.

Most people have their parents we their Doms, Harry's dad, and then step dad, had been his Doms before the X factor, and parents didn't really set strict rules, they just had expectations that parents should have anyways, so it didn't really make a difference. They were just there for big decisions. However he knew the boys would be actual Dom's to him, and that was really scary.

"I don't know what to do..." he whimpers, burying his head back on Louis' chest.

Louis puts a hand over the back of Harry's head to help comfort him and ground him.

"How about you just pick all three of us, that way you're not under the complete control of one person, and you'll have people to go to if you're not feeling safe on happy with something? And if after a little while it's clear there's one person your leaning more towards, you can change to just that person. That way it won't be so suffocating for you," Louis whispers.

Harry feels himself sigh in relief. "How did you know I felt suffocated?"

Louis smiles softly, "cause I know you, love. Does that sound like a good plan?"

Harry nods and looks over to the other three lads. "Um, is it okay to have all three of you?"

Zayn's mouth hangs open. "Really, _Haz_? Are you _sure_?"

Harry falters, 'cause Zayn just said he wouldn't get jealous, and now he sounds kinda mad.

"I-I can not p-pick Liam if you're not comfortable w-with it," he stutters, feeling panic rise again.

"That's not what I meant-"

"Zayn Malik, that's enough!" Liam says sternly, gripping the hair at the base of Zayn's head harshly to tilt it backwards so they're eye to eye. "You're not to interfere with this, do you understand me?"

Zayn whimpers, "Ow, yes sir, it won't happen again. I'm sorry," he says apologetically.

"Go and wait by the bunks," Liam orders, gently pushing him off his lap and pointing towards the door.

"B-But-"

"Now, Zayn! I've given you an order, now follow it. I'll be out there shortly," Liam says, not giving his sub another glance.

Zayn whines before storming out of the room, shutting the door a little too loudly for Liam's liking.

"Slam that door again, Zayn, and you won't be able to sit for a month! Do _not_ make me come and punish you right now!" Liam yells, hearing another whine from Zayn before another door is shut, this time a lot softer.

Harry whimpers on Louis' lap, hugging the Dom tightly.

"Shh, it's okay, Haz. Liam isn't mad at you, you haven't done anything wrong. You're a good boy," Louis coaxes.

"Don't want Zayn to get in trouble," Harry whispers, his hands trembling a little.

"Unfortunately that's not up to you, love. He'll be fine, don't worry about him," Louis whispers back.

"Sorry about that, Harry. But yes, I would be glad to be one of your Dom's. And Zayn is fine with it too, I promise. We've already spoken about it," Liam says softly, walking over and carefully pulling Harry off of Louis to give him a big cuddle. "It would be an honour."

Harry settles into Liam's arm's happily. "Thank you. And, um, if it does create issues with you and Zayn, please just tell me. I don't wanna mess anything up."

Liam smiles fondly. "You won't, Haz. But I promise to let you know if something does happen, okay?"

Harry nods happily. "Okay. Thank you again."

"That's alright, honey. Why don't you go give Niall a hug too," Liam suggests, giving him a light push towards Niall.

Niall smiles widely and opens his arms up, Harry rushing into them. "I'd love to be one of your Dom's, Haz. You don't even have to ask. Louis' right, you're not struggling by yourself again. We're here _for_ you, understand?"

Harry nods. "Yeah, I understand."

"Okay good, come here and let me look at your face again quickly," Louis orders.

Harry internally sighs but holds it and walks back over to Louis, squirming when Louis stands up and grips his chin tightly to inspect his cheek closely.

"Hmm, it's still bruised but it doesn't look infected. Does it hurt?"

"Um, a little bit," Harry says honestly.

"Okay, I'll get you some ice and some pain killers before we leave. Are you going to tell us what happened now?" Louis asks, although the way he words it makes it seem like its more or an order smartly disguised.

"Um, can we sit down again?" Harry asks, sighing in relief when Louis nods and they all sit back down in their respective seats.

"Okay, so, um, I went to the club and drank a lot of alcohol. And then I went to dance, and there was this Dom," Harry starts, feeling Louis tense up even though they're only sitting next to each other. "Yeah, and then we were, like, dancing together and he asked me back to his place, but I knew that would be bad. So we just went to the bathroom instead, and when I realised what was going to happen, I told him I wanted to leave, but he wouldn't let me. H-He kept trying to get me to s-suck his, um, suck him off, but I really didn't want to, c-cause I haven't done it before and I was scared. And he was really big. And then because I kept saying no he slapped me and spat on me."

Harry feels anxious when he's finished telling the boys what happened, and he hates the silence that comes after it.

"Okay, and then what happened?" Niall says after an uncomfortably long silence.

"Um, I don't really remember how, but I managed to unlock the door, and then I just ran and found the bouncer who let me in, and he was gonna throw me out cause I wasn't wearing a t shirt, but I asked him if I could use his phone to call Lou, and he realised I was distressed so he brought me out back and, shit, oh my god, my phone's still at the club!" Harry swears, looking in panic at Louis. "I left it with the Dom, he has my phone!"

"Okay, okay, it's alright. I'll call your phone company and freeze your phone and wipe it. He won't have been able to get anything from it anyways cause he doesn't have your password. It's alright, darling," Louis says reassuringly, wrapping and arm around Harry. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all of that, Haz, if you wanted we could report him to the police?"

Harry shakes his head. "I can't even remember what he looked like that much, I was too scared. I'm really sorry."

"Shh, it's not your fault, although you did make some really reckless decisions and that's going to have to be punished for. Not because it's your fault you were molested, but because you put yourself in danger by going under age to a club, under age drinking in a club which you also know you shouldn't do without a Dom, and dancing with a stranger. Do you understand the difference?" Louis asks.

"Yes, but I really don't wanna be punished! Please, Louis, I don't want to do it!" Harry protests, pushing Louis' arm off.

Louis rolls his eyes and just lifts Harry easily into his lap, holding the squirming sub still. "I don't care if you don't want it, you made bad decisions, and this is what happens as a result of it. You'll take your punish, and then we can move on and forget about it, and if you need to talk more about what happened we can, I can't imagine how hard that must have been for you. But I don't want this whiny arguing everytime you don't like they way things are going, okay? You know why you're being punished, stop trying to get out of it," he says, somehow strict and caring all at once.

"Yes Lou, I'm sorry," he whispers, settling into Louis' embrace again and cuddling the Dom.

"Good boy. Okay, we can cuddle for a bit, and then we have to go for this radio interview, and when we get back we can discuss your rules, your safeword, your hard limits, and what your punishment will be. Sound good?" Louis asks, curling a finger around Harry's curls.

"Yes, Sir," Harry says back contently.

"I'm just gonna go and deal with Zayn. It shouldn't take too long, see you in a minute," Liam says, ruffling Harry's curls and quickly exiting the room.

Harry whines and nuzzles Louis' shoulder, making the Dom laugh. "You're like a cat, what are you doing?" he teases.

"I feel like it's my fault Zayn's getting punished. He didn't even say anything bad. What if he really is jealous? Am I going to ruin everything?" Harry asks quietly.

Niall walks over and joins the two, sitting next to Louis and stroking a hand through Harry's hair, making the boy want to purr, but he's just been called a cat and he'd rather not add to that, so he just hums gratefully.

"I promise you Zayn isn't jealous, H. He said some things he wasn't meant to, and when Liam told him to stop he didn't, and then he slammed a door. That's not your fault, he should know better. He'll most likely get a spanking, and then he'll be okay again," Niall explains.

"But wouldn't that hurt?!" Harry asks, staring widely at Niall.

Niall hides a fond smirk. "Yes, Harry, it probably will hurt, that's kinda the point. But it's nothing he can't handle and it helps him to a) become a better sub and b) not feel so guilty or like he's a bad sub, cause he's being reprimanded for his bad behaviour. Surely you know how that feels?"

Harry feels his face go red and looks down at his and Louis' lap as he fiddles with his fingers and shrugs.

"Harry, Niall asked you a question. Don't shrug your shoulders," Louis says sternly.

"Sorry. Um, I haven't ever really been punished. My real dad was never really around much when me and Gem were kids, and when Robin became my Dom I think he didn't want to, like, overstep anything. So he never really did anything either. The most that would happen was Gemma punching me if I annoyed her, and it would hurt cause she's a Dom so she's stronger than me, but it was never for a punishment. So no, I don't know how it feels," Harry explains in embarrassment.

Harry hears Niall swear as Louis rubs a hand over his back. "Okay, that's alright. We can figure it out together, yeah? And maybe if Zayn isn't still being punished later you can talk to him about how it will feel? Would that make you feel better, sweetie?" Louis says softly, making Harry instantly feel safer and calmer just by his touch.

"Yes, please. If Z doesn't mind," Harry mumbles.

"Of course he won't, I'll have a chat with Liam and Zayn. If he's down all day we can move your punishment until he can talk to you, but it should be fine," Louis says.

"Okay, thank you," Harry says with a smile.

He was scared for his punishment, but he felt like maybe it would be okay. For the first time in his life he felt like he had not one but three safe and secure Dom's, and one of them was Louis!

He was scared, but he also felt safe. He knew it would be okay, and he was so thankful to have Zayn help him out as well.

All he could think was, why didn't he tell the boys he was a sub sooner?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I know another update so soon, what is happening??
> 
> I swear I'm just on a roll at the moment.
> 
> As always let me know what you liked/didn't like. I love reading your opinions in the comments.
> 
> Thank you all for reading and sticking with this fic, it's very much appreciated xx
> 
> TPWK


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry talks to Zayn about being a sub and he gets his rules

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii, thank you so much for reading!!
> 
> Hope you enjoy this little chapter xx

Okay so maybe there was a reason be hadn't told the boys.

Now he was allowed to show his true submissive nature, it was becoming harder to hide it Infront of other people.

This was also clearly apparent for the rest of the boys too, as they kept reaching out to touch him as you would a sub, before pulling back and sitting rigid.

And their management were definitely starting to catch on if the angry glares they were giving Harry were anything to go by.

"So, Harry. Rumours are saying you were caught with a boy in a club recently? You looking for a sub to settle down with or were you just looking for a quick, shall we say, night of love?" the male Dom interview says with a nasty laugh.

Harry shoves his sweaty palms under his thighs to sit on to try and hide his nerves. "Um, I think there's always rumours going around and you shouldn't always believe what you, um, what you read," he says shortly.

"Mhmm, sure sure. We can say that," the interviewer says sarcastically with a smirk.

"Anyways, boys, you're in the middle of your second world tour. At such a young age that must be a lot to take in. Do you have specific things you like to bring on tour with you to help ground you?" the female interviewer asks, who Harry decides he prefers a lot more.

"Um, for me I'd probably just say me Yorkshire tea. You just can't beat it, can you lads?" Louis says seriously, making Harry bow his head and bite his lip to hide a smirk.

"You can't, this is true. I'd prob'ly just say me guitar," Niall says with a smirk.

"I'd just say Zayn, and the rest of the boys as well. I can't ever imagine doing this whole thing solo, and I feel so grateful to have my three best mates and my boyfriend with me on this whole journey too," Liam says fondly, squeezing Zayn's thigh.

Zayn blushes and smiles proudly. "I'd say Li, too, or my teddy bear."

"Aw, you two are so cute! What about you Harry?" the woman asks with a kind smile.

"He'd probably want a little fuck boy," the man says, laughing loudly.

"Mate you need to back off-" Louis starts before being interrupted by Harry.

"I was actually going to say that having my blanket and candles from home help to make the bus feel more like home, and also having the boy's is something you can't put a price on," he says honestly, hurt shining through his voice.

The interview goes on for a little while longer, Harry not saying much unless directly asked, and as soon as it's over his management are pulling him away and into a separate room, ignoring his complaints.

"What the hell happened to you last night, styles? Do you know the amount of cover up work we've had to do for you? All cause you wanted a shag in the toilets? With a Dom? When you _know_ the world thinks you're a Dom too? What is your explanation for it exactly, cause I swear to god it better good!" His manager shouts.

Harry gulps and feels his hands shake, wishing he had Louis or at least one of the other boy's with him right now.

"I'm really sorry, John, I didn't mean for everything to happen the way it did. This Dom pulled me into the bathroom, and when I realised what was happening he wouldn't let me leave. I'm really sorry," he says again desperately.

"So then how does that explain the reason why the boys out there all know? Hm? It says in your contract you're not tell anyone, including the boys. You do realise the implications behind this, right?" John says angrily.

"U-Um, no sir, sorry," Harry mumbles.

John rolls his eyes. "If you break your contract it can result in either a fine or we can release you from our management."

Harry gasps and looks up at John. "You mean, like, I wouldn't be in one direction anymore?"

"Not whilst they're under this label, and we they've all signed the same contract as you they can't switch for another seven years. And I know what your thinking, if you all break your contract we won't release you. We'll just make your life hell for a bit so you won't think of breaking it again."

"So am I being released?" Harry whispers, his voice shaking.

"I think that it would be best if-"

"John open this fucking door right now!" Harry hears Louis shout through the door, banging on it for extra emphasis.

John rolls his eyes and walks past Harry to open the door, holding it open with one arm to prevent Louis from getting in.

"He's in a private meeting with his personal manager, Louis. I can't allow you in, so you're going to have to wait patiently outside," he says in a calm manner.

"I don't give a rat's arse if he's in a private meeting, you've fucked him over way too many times already and we aren't going to let it happen again, so either let me in or I will force my way in," Louis says, equally calm but with anger clearly showing in each word.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't threaten me, thank you Louis. But as I said, we're in a private meeting about personal issues that doesn't include you, and he doesn't want you here. So stop arguing with me and step away from the door so I can shut it," John replies, beginning to lose his temper.

"Harry, come here!" Louis orders, and even if he wanted to ignore it he couldn't.

He trips over his feet in his haste to get closer to Louis. He can't actually get to Louis because John is blocking the exit, be he waits patiently behind his arm.

Louis is standing with his legs shoulder width apart and both hands resting on either side of the door frame, making Harry want to run into his embrace to get some form of comfort after the horrific meeting and interview he's had.

"Now try telling me he doesn't want me here," Louis says sternly.

John sighs and turns around, still blocking Louis entrance and now view as well as John was a lot taller than Harry.

"You're already on thin ice, Harry. Go and wait over there, and you don't answer to Louis. Do you understand?" John says in his Dom voice, making Harry whimper.

"B-But Lou told me to come over here," he protests.

"And why, exactly, do you suddenly feel you need to do everything he fucking tells you? Hm? Considering what I just told you, I would do as I say if I were you. Go on, I'll be over in a minute," he orders.

The thing is, Harry can't move. He literally cannot move, because his Dom just ordered him to come over here, and therefore he can't do anything else until either Louis or Liam or Niall say anything. He wants to move cause John is scaring him, but his body won't let him.

"I-I can't!" Harry cries, fear running through his body.

"Why the fuck not?" John shouts, finally having lost his temper.

"Because I'm his Dom and I just told him to come here. Now I'm being really fucking serious when I say to move the fuck out of the way!" Louis shouts from behind John.

Harry whimpers loudly, wanting to be with Louis and for everyone to stop shouting.

John's mouth falls open in shock, looking at Harry. "Is this true?"

Harry nods. "Yes sir."

"After we told you you weren't allowed to have one before coming to talk to us?"

"It's not official! We were going to talk to you, I promise!" Harry says honestly.

"But your body is listening to Louis?" John says in confusion.

"I can't help it. Can I please see Louis now?" Harry asks desperately.

John wordlessly moves to the side and Harry rushes forward to Louis as the Dom pulls Harry in for a hug.

Louis hugs Harry tightly, protectively holding Harry's head to his chest with one hand, the other rubbing his back.

"It's okay, you're safe now," Louis whispers.

They stay like that for a little while longer before Louis looks up to John. "I think we all need a little chat, don't you?"

John looks at Louis with a steely gaze. "Fine, seeing as we're in LA, I'll meet you at the offices in an hour with the rest of the team. Don't be fucking late," he says angrily, storming out of the room.

Harry whimpers and grips the back of Louis' t shirt in his fists tightly.

"Its alright, Haz, he's gone now. Can you tell me what he said to you?" Louis asks softly.

Harry opens his eyes to see Zayn, Liam and Niall all looking at him expectantly.

"He said, because I broke this clause in my contract, that I could get be released. Like, out of the band. I don't know if he'd actually do it, but like, he threatened me with it," Harry whispers, feeling Louis tense up.

"Fuck, can he even do that?" Zayn asks incredulously, shock written all over his face.

"Yeah. He said if you break a part of your contract it would either result in a fine or I'd be fired. But he also said that if we all broke our contract, they'd just make our life hell, so there's no way out," Harry replies.

"Okay, don't get upset buddy. You're not going to be dropped from the band, Haz, we told you you're bit fighting this by yourself anymore and we meant it. Honestly. We'll deal with it in the meeting later, yeah?" Liam says kindly.

Harry nods. "Thank you."

Louis groans and drops his head to Harry's shoulder, inhaling deeply at his neck.

"Are you okay?" Harry asks timidly, trying to stay as still as possible.

"Yeah I'm fine," Louis says, pulling back from Harry.

"Are you sure?" Harry checks.

"I just really hate your manager, and I hate the fact they've literally been abusing your rights for so long and feel like they can keep doing it. I have this feeling they're gonna black mail us in this meeting," Louis admits, squeezing the bridge of his nose.

"Then we'll have a back up plan. C'mon, why don't we go and get some coffee and pastries and bring it back here for a nice lunch before heading to this bloody meeting? Zayn can stay here with Harry?" Niall suggests, Louis and Liam nodding.

"Yeah, let's do that, as long as that's okay with you, Li?" Louis says tiredly.

"Yeah, it's fine. And we can discuss Harry's rules and whatever when we get back," Liam adds.

"Okay perfect, let's go," Niall says, happy to have been able to do something helpful.

Liam walks over to Zayn, "Stay here with Harry, look after him, don't go anywhere and if you need anything call me. Okay?"

"Yes Sir. Um, what if someone comes in?" Zayn asks.

"Lock the door when we leave, and we get back I'll knock and tell you it's me. Don't answer for any other reason unless it's an absolute emergency," Liam tells Zayn, kissing him lightly before walking over to Harry.

"Zayn's going to stay here with you, don't give him a hard time, and don't leave this room. If you need anything, well you'll have to use Zayn's phone seeing as you don't have one, and call us. Any questions?"

"How long are you going to be?" Harry asks quietly.

"Not long, 15 minutes? 20 at most. Be a good boy for us whilst we're gone, yeah?" Liam says softly.

Harry nods. "Yes, Li. Thank you."

Liam smiles and presses a short kiss to Harry's forehead.

"Okay, we'll see you boys in a bit. Don't cause any trouble!" Louis says, shutting the door behind them.

Zayn goes over to the door and quickly pulls the bolt shut.

"It's so clear they're just going to talk about the meeting! I swear they must think we're so stupid," Zayn laughs, sitting down on the sofa.

Harry worries his bottom lip between his teeth, tentatively walking over to Zayn.

"Um, Z?"

"What's up?"

"I'm really sorry about earlier, I didn't mean for you to get into trouble..." He says, avoiding eye contact.

Zayn laughs and pulls Harry in for a hug, unable to say anything cause he was laughing so hard.

"What?!" Harry whines, shifting in Zayn's grip.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry, I just, you're so sweet sometimes," Zayn gasps, managing to stop laughing, "sorry, babe," he says again when Harry glares at him.

"I was being serious! I thought you'd be mad at me!" He whines again, lightly slapping Zayn's arm when he starts laughing again, "you're so annoying!"

"Ow, okay okay I'm sorry, geez. Liam wasn't even that mad at me, don't sweat it. I think he was just tired and cranky anyways," Zayn explains, pulling Harry onto the sofa for a cuddle, Harry partially on Zayn's lap but not allowing himself to fully cuddle him.

"Did he, um, you know? Thingy you?" Harry mutters, his cheeks tinged pink.

Zayn tries to hold in a laugh again, smirking and biting his lip. "Do you mean did he spank me?"

Harry squirms, face going even redder. "You don't need to be so explicit, but yes, that is what I meant."

Zayn nods, trying to compose himself. "Well no, he didn't spank me this time. I think he realised he was just stressed or whatever, and even though what i did was wrong, it wasn't like, a massive crime. He just told me not to push it again today, so I got off lucky. We just had a long conversation about what is appropriate to say around you and Louis and what's not, and apparently questioning your choice of picking all three of them and not just Louis was in the 'not appropriate' section, but whatever. I still think it's stupid."

"I thought you were jealous, sorry. Louis said you would be getting, um, you know, span- _punished_. That's why I was asking, I didn't mean to intrude," Harry said embarrassedly.

Zayn laughs softly. "That's probably because it's the kind of thing Louis _would_ spank someone for. I'm telling you, he's _strict_ , Haz. And you're not intruding, you can ask me about it, I don't mind. And if I do I'll just say, okay?"

"Okay, thank you. Um, if you don't mind me saying, why do you this its stupid to pick all three of them?"

"Because it's clear you like Louis, and it's clear he likes you back. Surely you see it?" Zayn says.

"He could just be needing sub, and I happen to be a sub who needs a Dom. And if there is something there, I don't want the pressure of him being by Dom already there to force it or complicate it. If all three of them are my Doms, and it _does_ turn out he likes me back, then we can figure it out. It just makes me feel less trapped. It was Lou's idea," Harry explains.

"Okay, fair enough. I guess that makes sense, I'm sorry for disputing it, babe. Why don't you just sit on my lap and we can snuggle together properly? You're like half way there anyways," Zayn says.

"Don't wanna squish you," Harry whispers.

Zayn rolls his eyes fondly. "You're not going to squish me, I promise. C'mon, I wanna snuggle. I'm tired!"

Harry gives in and climbs fully on Zayn's lap, tangling their legs together.

They stay quiet for a bit, a comfortable silence settling over them like a soft blanket.

"Louis said you wanted to talk to me about punishments, do you wanna talk about it now?" Zayn says after a while, happily hugging Harry as the boy was like a human water bottle.

"Um, I don't mind. I just, I'm really scared," he admits.

"Okay, well that's understandable considering you haven't ever been given a punishment before. But I promise you, it helps. I know the idea of it can be overwhelming, but your body needs it, I promise. And if it's Louis, or Liam or Niall, they will look after you properly. They're not going to push you beyond your limits, and they will look after your properly. Trust me, it's better to have one of them do it then a Dom who doesn't have much of an emotional connection to you," Zayn says, somewhat sadly.

"Is that what happened with your old Dom, the one that's part of our management?"

"Steve, yeah. It was pretty awful, at least compared to Liam. He'd give me the appropriate punishment, and he wouldn't exceed my limits or ignore my safeword or anything, but when it was over he'd just say, like, you did good and that was it. There was barely any after care, because he didn't have that connection with me. I'd have to come back and ask one of the boys for it, which was kinda embarrassing at the start, but I guess it helped my relationship with Liam in the end, because he quickly became the only person I'd wanna be around for after care. Doesn't mean I would wanna go through it again though. This is all irrelevant, my point is, that won't happen to you, because the boys do care," Zayn says, resting his head on Harry's chest.

"I'm sorry you went through that, Zaynie. That sounds really shit. How comes you never came to me for after care?" Harry asks, honestly curious.

Zayn looks a bit shifty. "Um, well don't take this the wrong way or anything, but I never really felt much of a Dominant pull from you, but I just thought it was because you were so young. It makes sense now, but when you need after care, a sub can't give you the same kind of care, and I guess my inner sub understood that more than I did. Sorry."

Harry shakes his head. "Its fine, I'm not a Dom so it's fine. I don't want to have a Dominant pull, I'm actually glad you said that. I always thought that maybe, because everyone just believed I was a Dom, maybe I was just a really bad sub or something. I thought if I was a really good sub, maybe someone would realise, but because noone did I was just floating around somewhere in the middle. I don't know, it just makes me happy to know you thought I wasn't dominant."

Zayn smiles and squeezes Harry. "Trust me, you're the least dominant person I've ever met. We always used to say maybe you weren't a very good Dom, but Louis always shut us down saying you were just young. We never really let ourselves believe anything else."

Harry nods and relaxes a little more. 

"Did you have any more questions about punishments?" Zayn asks kindly.

Harry thinks for a bit before answering. "Um, not about punishments, but I really don't want to have a list of rules. The idea of it makes me feel really controlled and trapped."

"I'm guessing you never had rules before as well?" Zayn asks, Harry shaking his head in confirmation. "Okay, well, again you're gonna need the rules. It helps to ground you as a sub, knowing what's allowed and what's not, and they're mostly to keep you safe- fuck, one second," Zayn says as he answers his phone that was ringing.

"Hi Li...yeah its all good...I don't mind... sure... yeah...I don't know let me ask him," he says, holding the phone to his chest to talk to Harry, "what do you want to drink?"

"Can I have the phone?"

"Sure, be quick," Zayn says, handing the phone to Harry.

"Hi Li, what smoothies do they have?...ew...no, they normally have like a kiwi one with ginger and spinach and avocado...yeah that one...okay rude...thank you, I'm passing you back to Zayn now," Harry says, doing just that.

Zayn takes the phone with a fond roll of his eyes, "literally he just meant tea or coffee you weirdo," he says before holding the phone to his ear, "hi Li, yeah that's fine...okay see you soon, I love you... bye!"

"Everyone's so mean to me..." Harry grumbles.

"Why?" Zayn says with a snigger. 

"I told him the smoothie I wanted! And he said he didn't wanna sound like an idiot because they have stupid names for their smoothies and I was annoying for being so extra. But then I think Louis slapped him because he swore and said it's fine he'd get that for me," Harry explains.

"Why what's the name of the smoothie?"

"The ultimate powerful green joyful juicer..." He grumbles again, shoving Zayn when he laughs loudly, "it's nice!"

"Sure, whatever you say. Anyways, back to what I was saying, most of your rules are there for your safety, and they're a two way thing. If you really don't like one if them just tell them what it is you don't like about and you can talk about it," Zayn explains.

"Oh," Harry says dumbly, "what if they give me rules and I really don't like any of them? Or I can't follow any of them and I'm just in a constant state of being punished? Zayn I can't do this!" Harry panics, suddenly feeling a surge of anxiety.

"Okay, alright, shh, calm down babe. I promise you, you'll find yourself needing rules one way or another, and you will enjoy having the stability, even if it feels a little overwhelming at the start. And like I said, they'll listen to you if you don't feel like something's fair, so long as it's a valid reason and not just you being spoilt. Do you understand the difference?"

Harry nods, the anxiety fading a little. "Thank you, sorry if I'm annoying you with all my questions."

Zayn shakes his head. "Don't be stupid, you're my little brother, remember? You're allowed to ask questions."

Harry nods again, relaxing fully into their cuddle. "Thank you, I swear I'm really grateful for everything you're doing. I know it must be a lot to take in, one day I was a Dom the next I was a Sub, and I'm so grateful that you all just accepted me. So thank you, really, it's very much appreciated."

Zayn smiles, "it's okay, babe. I'm actually really happy you're a sub, it always felt a little bit lonely being the only one. Dom's don't understand the frustration that comes with being a sub, people constantly over look us or give us no respect because they think we're not worthy of it. Especially as male subs, the amount of times I've been told I'm not a real man is ridiculous. At least I can be there for you now."

"Thank you," Harry says one last time, the two just cuddling for the next ten minutes silently until they hear a knock on the door.

"Zayn, it's Liam. Can you open the door, pup?"

Harry slides over to the other side of the sofa, allowing Zayn to get up and carefully unlock the door.

"Hi," he says as the three boys walk in, drink trays and brown paper bags in hand.

"Hey, your two been okay? Any problems?" Zayn asks, setting the drinks and food down carefully on the little table in the middle of the room.

"No, it's was fine," Zayn says, taking one of the cups labelled c and drinking his coffee happily, "mm, this so good, thanks guys."

Louis smiles before walking over to Harry. "Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, um, I spoke to Zayn about, like, what we spoke about before," Harry says, "and like, I feel better about it now. But, um, can we still take it slowly? It's still kinda overwhelming, but I think I can handle it."

"Of course we can. C'mon, let's eat something, and then we can talk about it. Come and sit in the floor next to me over here with the rest of the boys," Louis says, holding his hand out for Harry, which the Sub takes happily.

They sit on the floor cross legged. "Um, did you get my smoothie?" Harry asks, confused when he can't find it.

Liam glares at Harry. "You mean your 'joyfull juicer'?" He says annoyed.

"My ultimate powerful green joyful juicer, yes," Harry corrects.

"Well, after the barista and everyone in the shop turned to laugh at me, she informed me most people just call it the green smoothie, so thank you very much, Harry. Here, you better fucking enjoy it," he grumbles, shoving the smoothie over to the sub.

"Thank you!" Harry says, not even paying attention to Liam's annoyance and happily sucking on his straw.

They sit and eat for a while, Harry slowly sucking his smoothie in between a croissant, feeling properly energised by the smoothie.

When Louis finishes, he clears his throat and gets everyone's attention. "Okay, so, I think we should discuss Harry's rules now. Everyone okay with that?"

Everyone nods their head.

"Okay, perfect. So, first of all, we're going to tell you what your rules are going to be for the immediate future, and if you have any objections don't be scared to say what they are, and as time goes on and we learn more and more about you as a sub, will change it add rules accordingly. Fair?"

"Yes Sir," Harry says, taking another sip from his smoothie.

"Good boy. Okay, number one, you do what we say as and when your are told. This should be fairly obvious, but we wanted to make these as clear as possible. So when we tell you to do something, no matter what other people are saying, you obey us. Just like you did today, okay?" Louis says.

"Yes Louis," Harry replies.

"Okay, rule number two, do _not_ talk back to us. If we tell you to do something and you really have an issue with it, you can always colour out, as we expect you to. But you do not talk back to us simply because you don't want to do what we're telling you, we won't stand for bratty behaviour, clear?" Niall says sternly.

"Yes Niall, I won't talk back," Harry repeats.

"Rule number three, you will show us signs of respect at all times. Rule number four, you are never to go out in public without permission and one of us or a member of security. This is really important, Harry. Nights like last night are not going to be tolerated again," Louis says, no room for argument.

Harry nods his head.

"Rule number five, you will not consume alcohol unless you have one of your Dom's permission and we have to be present," Liam says, making Harry look up for the first time.

"What? That's not fair! What if I want to go out with one of my friends and I don't wanna be babysat like a little kid?!" Harry whines.

"Technically, Harry, you're not actually legally old enough to drunk alcohol anyways, even in England. So if I were you I wouldn't argue with us on it. And if there is a situation such as the one you described we can talk about it then, but last night showed us that a, you aren't not trustworthy with alcohol, and b, neither are other Dom's. This is for your safety," Louis explains, "so don't start whining."

Harry slumps. "Yes, Sir. Sorry Sir."

"Rule number six, you don't attend a work meeting with management by yourself. This isn't we don't trust you, but because we don't want our management to take advantage of you again. This is also for the purpose of your safety," Niall says, Harry nodding again.

"Rule number seven, you are to verbally communicate with us at all times. This includes during a punishment and outside of punishment, but we want you to actually tell us how you feel. We won't have any shrugging at us, or not telling us if something bothers you. Do you understand?" Liam asks.

"Yes, Liam, I understand," Harry says.

"Good boy. Okay you're going really well, sweetheart. We just have a couple more to go over and then we're done. Rule number eight, if you ever feel like you need to safeword or colour out, we can over that in a second, than it is absolutely vital you tell us. It won't make you bad for having to colour out, and it doesn't make you a weak sub. It shows your strength for knowing your own limits, okay?" Louis says softly.

"Yes, Lou," Harry says, taking another sip of his smoothie. This was a lot to take in and he was starting to get a headache.

"Okay last one, um, if you want to hook up with a Dom, you bring them back to the bus with at least one of us present on the bus. You do _not_ go back to their place, you do _not_ follow them to the toilet, you do _not_ go to a hotel they have booked and you do _not_ bring them to your hotel room if you have one at the time. You either bring them back to the bus after having let one of us know and confirmed one us can come back with you, or you day goodbye to them. No negotiating, clear?" Louis says shortly.

"But you'll be able to hear!" Harry protests, face burning in humiliation.

"I'd rather hear you having sex than have an asshole take advantage of you. This doesn't make what happened to you last night your fault in any way, but again this is completely for your safety. Any questions about anything?" Louis asks, smiling when Harry shakes his head.

"Okay, good boy. Now, do you have a safeword already? Or would you rather use the colour coding system?" Louis asks.

"Um, I haven't ever needed one before so I haven't had one. Can we use the colour coding system? I think that would work better for me," Harry says.

"Of course, good decision making. Can you tell me what each of your colours are and what they mean?" Louis asks, wanting to check Harry understood everything perfectly.

"Um, so, green means everything is okay and I'm happy to keep doing whatever is happening. Yellow means I'm not quite comfortable and I would like to take a minute to stop or maybe change whatever is happening. And red means I'm completely uncomfortable and need everything to stop immediately," Harry explains, hoping to have gotten everything right.

"Perfect, well done Haz. That's exactly what each colour means. Can you tell me your colour right now?" Louis praises.

"Um, green but I think I have a headache coming on," Harry says truthfully.

"Okay, good boy for telling me. This has been a lot if information to take in, and I know it must be quite overwhelming. Do you want to come here and have a cuddle?" Louis says, opening his arms up for Harry to quickly crawl over and settle between each of Louis' legs which are propped up, Harry sitting with his back to Louis' chest so he can keep drinking his smoothie.

Louis wraps his arms around Harry from behind and kisses his temple. "Good boy, Harry. You've been so good for us today, and if you keep up this behaviour for the rest of the week the boys and I think you deserve to have a day collar. It will just be something subtle, but you and I and the boys will know what it means. Does that sound good?"

Harry nods happily, slumping fully into Louis' hold. "Thank you, Sir."

"That's alright, darling. Hey Ni, there should be some paracetamol in my backpack, can you pass it over here, thanks," Louis says, catching up the packet and ripping two out.

He holds one to Harry's lips. "Open, put your tongue out," he orders, Harry doing so. He puts the white pill on Harry's awaiting tongue, trying to remove all other thoughts from his head. Harry was 17, for gods sake, Louis needed to pull himself together.

"Okay, now take a sip of your gross green sludge and swallow," he orders again.

Harry does so, turning to glare at Louis. "It's not gross, you're so mean! You can try some if you want!" he says, excitable by then end.

Louis can't resist Harry and rolls his eyes fondly. "Okay fine, but if this is gross you're so dead!"

Harry just puts the straw to Louis' lip, keeping eye contact as Louis drinks, which kinda makes Harry a little dizzy.

Screw his teenage hormones!

When Louis stops sucking he takes the straw away, taking a sip himself and not thinking too hard about the fact that it _just_ came from Louis' mouth.

"So! What do you think?" he says excitedly.

Louis smirks fondly, not able to help himself. "It wasn't that bad, babe. Not as good as my tea though."

Harry wants to get mad that Louis still thinks his tea is better, but he just called him babe, so all he does is hide a shy smile behind his straw as he takes another sip and turns back around to settle into Louis' arms, decidedly ignoring Zayn's knowing eyes.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ANOTHER update???? Seriously don't expect this sudden burst of creativity to last much longer, I'm just glad I've gotten a few chapters out in the last few days!!
> 
> Please comment as always, you guys know how happy they make me!!! I'm also curious as to whether you'd prefer fast updates but slightly shorter chapters like I've been so doing so far, or a longer wait with a longer chapter?
> 
> I hope you enjoyed this chapter, hope you have a great weekend xxx


	6. Chapter 6

Harry was panicking. 

They were sitting in the waiting chairs outside the office, all members of their management inside the room, all there to talk about Harry.

That was a lot of attention on Harry.

"Okay boys, you can go through now," the receptionist says with a smile.

"Thank you," Louis smiles, standing up with the rest of the boys.

Harry debates it for all of two seconds before sliding his hand into Louis' silently, instantly feeling more relaxed.

The Dom looks at him with a smile and softly squeezes his hand. "You'll be fine, I'll be by your side the whole time," he says softly.

Harry smiles tightly and walks slightly behind Louis, gripping his hand tightly and keeping his head down to avoid eye contact with everyone.

The room was a large conference room, with a long rectangular table the middle and chair surrounding it, five empty ones at the end of the room.

The boys smile at everyone as they walk in, shaking hands with a few people before taking their seats.

"Okay," Trevor, their head manager from modest starts, "as we're all aware, Mr Styles is a Submissive and under the pretence to the rest of the public as a Dom. John is under the knowledge that you boys are aware of this and Liam, Niall and Louis found it appropriate to label themselves as Mr Styles' Dom's, despite the fact that not only has Mr Styles signed a contract stating he is not allowed any form of Dom's, but also he shouldn't have told you he was even a sub. Is this true?"

The boys look towards each other. "Yes, Trevor, John is correct. However-" Liam starts.

"Right. So Mr Styles _has_ broken his contract in at least two places?"

"Yes, but-" Liam tries again.

"And John has informed Mr Styles of what this means for his future?"

"He did, and we think-" 

"So I think we are all in agreement then. This will be Mr Styles' last chance, anymore slip ups and his contract will be terminated. Now, if you four don't mind we'd like to speak to Mr Styles alone," Trevor says officially.

Harry feels like he wants the ground to just open and swallow him up whole. Trevor kept talking about him like he wasn't even there, and everyone was looking at him in disgust. He gripped Louis' hand tighter under the table and let his curls fall over his eyes.

"Actually, we do mind," Liam says forcefully, standing up and resting his hands on the table, "You've been abusing your position of power of _Harry_ , and it's time it stops," he says, emphasising Harry's name which he was very grateful for.

"Mr Payne-"

"I wasn't actually finished. We know you've forged Harry's passport, birth certificate and provisional drivers license, meaning he has no official documentation or identification for himself. This is _highly_ illegal, so if I were you I'd listen to what we have to say before we go the police," Liam says, keeping firm eye contact with Trevor.

If Trevor's worried he doesn't show it, but some of the other people around the room look tense.

"Go on," Trevor says carelessly.

Liam takes a deep breath. "Harry will be allowed myself, Niall and Louis as his official Dom's. He will be given his real forms of identification back, and he will be allowed to register as a Sub. When Harry wants to, he will be allowed to tell the world he is a Sub. Both Harry and Zayn will from now on be treated fairly and given the same opportunities as you have given Niall, Louis and myself. You will not be allowed to pull Harry in for a solo meeting, and you will run by everything with us regarding his work."

Harry looks up shocked at Liam. He wasn't expecting Liam to demand so much from their team, and Harry was sure they wouldn't agree to all of that.

"And when is Harry wanting to tell the public?" John asks tiredly.

All eyes then turn to Harry and the sub feels his breathing quicken.

"Um, I'm not sure. Sometime in the next year?" he asks quietly.

"Amusing. Unfortunately, boys, you all signed a ten year contract when you were first signed, including Harry. So you can stand there and whine all you want, but we have Harry's signature allowing us to have done everything we have," John says confidently.

"And Harry was fifteen when he signed that, and you deliberately made sure he didn't see the bits you didn't want. That's illegal, so we can still go to the police," Niall interjects.

"Just so you know, if you do go running to the police with your stupid story, it has to go the press. And that way Harry will be outed unwillingly, and trust us from experience it's gonna get nasty. If you do go to the police we'll immediately be dropping all five of you, and then you won't have a security team to help you. Harry will instantly become a target for paps, media, press and Doms looking for someone to take advantage of. Do you want Harry to be put at risk?" Trevor says mockingly.

Louis shoves his chair back and slams his hands on table making Harry flinch. "Stop trying to scare him! You know exactly what you are doing, _you_ are the Dom's looking to take advantage of someone and _you_ are the people putting Harry at risk! We are Harry's Dom's whether you like it or not, Harry's body already responds to my commands, not yours. And if you don't get Harry his proper identification profiles and his file, we will be suing you and trust me, we will win. You're whole business will collapse, and it will be your fault. How will Simon feel about that, hm?"

Harry feels scared now Louis' hand is clenched on the table and not holding his, rubbing soft circles with his thumb on the back of his hand.

"Harry, Zayn, go and wait outside," Liam orders quietly.

Harry looks at Liam in shock as Zayn stands up to leave. "This is _my_ meeting, regarding issues about _me_ , Liam. I'm not leaving until this is all sorted out," he huffs.

Louis turns to Harry and grips his chin tightly, "I believe Liam just gave you an order, Harry. What's the rule about orders?"

Harry glares at Louis. "To follow them, but this order is stupid."

Louis' eyes go dark and he lifts Harry's chin up higher. "And what's the rule about respect, little boy?" he asks sternly.

Harry feels himself wilt a little in Louis' grip. "To show it to you, can you stop gripping me so hard, _please_ sir?" Harry says with a hint of sarcasm.

"That's enough! Liam asked you nicely to go and wait outside, and Zayn was a good boy and got up to go and do so. You however are deliberately being disobedient, and I'm not going to tolerate you whining like this. Now, go and wait outside with Zayn, or I can bend you over this table and punish you right now," Louis threatens. He wouldn't actually punish him here, especially as they hadn't gone over Harry's non existent file, but it's only the threat he needs to use for Harry to finally obey.

"Yes Sir, I'm sorry," he whispers.

"Go and wait with Zayn, and do _not_ cause any trouble because we will know about it. Go on, go outside," he says, no kindness in his voice now.

Harry follows Zayn out of the room sadly, quietly shutting the door behind him.

"Fucks sake, why did I say that?" Harry says sadly as he sits in one of the comfy chairs.

Zayn shrugs and sits down, feelings slightly on edge from all the shouting and threatening going on in that meeting, his anxiety growing and making him not very verbal.

He sits in his own chair, curling up his legs in front of him and wrapping his arms around them, biting his bottom lip harshly.

Harry sits in silence as well, hating the fact he wasn't in the meeting and hating the fact he'd been bad already. He'd only had his rules for five fucking minutes and he'd already screwed them up.

After what feels like an eternity, the boys finally come out, all looking pissed off and Liam slightly worried.

Zayn jumps out of his chair and into Liam's arm's, holding him tightly as Liam picks him up and rocks them side to side. 

"You're okay, pup, you're with me now. It's okay, I love you," he whispers.

Zayn just holds him tightly, not letting go and fully intending for Liam to carry him as he rests his head on Liam's shoulder.

Louis walks over to Harry, his eyes still dark and full of anger. He clicks his fingers, "let's go," he orders, Harry quickly getting up and following as he heads for the lift.

They all enter the lift, Liam still carrying Zayn, and all Harry can do is look at them with jealousy.

Harry wants to know what the outcome of the meeting was, especially considering it was _his_ meeting, and so he decides he's already in trouble, what more can asking a question do?

"Um, Sir?" he timidly asks Louis, Louis looking over to him with a blank expression, "um, what happened at the end of the meeting?"

Louis sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, something Harry's seen him do before when he's stressed.

"They wouldn't budge on what they were saying before so we're going to have to get some lawyers in to help us, but it's going to be fine. Don't worry about it," he says tiredly.

"Okay," Harry says in a small voice, "um, am I going to get punished as soon as we get to the bus?"

"If you want me to do it then no, I need to blow off some steam first," Louis says shortly, pulling out his phone and checking his messages. 

Harry feels even worse and stays quiet for the rest of the journey back to the bus, wishing he had some kind of contact with Louis, or even Niall or Liam.

He just didn't want to feel alone.

They finally reach the bus, just to find Paul from last night sitting with the driver and waiting for them.

Harry bounds up to him and hugs him tightly, staying like that for a while, as Louis scowls from behind them.

"Okay, that's enough, Harry come back here," Louis orders with another click of his fingers.

Harry sighs and quickly let's go, walking over back to Louis sadly.

"Who the fuck are you?" Niall asks loudly, shocking Harry with how angry he sounds.

"This is the bouncer that helped Harry last night. What's your name again? Peter?" Louis asks ignorantly.

" _Paul_ , nice to meet you," he says, holding his hand out for Niall and Liam.

Niall rolls his eyes and ignores the hand, making Liam internally sigh and shake his hand whilst still holding Zayn in the other, which makes it kinda awkward.

"Sorry, ignore the two of them, we've just had a pretty heavy meeting. I'm Liam, that's Niall and this is Zayn. Do you wanna say hi, pup?"

Zayn nods and Liam puts him on the floor. The sub turns around and shakes the Dom's hand shyly, going back to stand behind Liam.

"Thank you for helping Harry out last night, mate. It's greatly appreciated," Liam says kindly.

Paul shakes it off, "It's fine. It is technically my job and all that, so," he shrugs.

"Still. We're very thankful you were there," Liam adds.

"It's not exactly part of your fucking job to allow a minor into a club with no form of ID though, is it? What exactly did you need?" Louis asks , clearly pissed off.

"Well, your team contacted me to sign the NDA, and then because Harry's a sub now, they said they'd be needing another member of security, and I already know about Harry and I work in security, so they offered me the job!" Paul says excitedly.

Harry gasps and looks up happily, giving him another hug. "That's so cool, I'm so happy you're coming with us!"

Paul chuckles and pats Harry on the back, ruffling his hair as he steps away.

"Yeah, so, basically I'm going to be coming with you guys wherever we go, and if you need anything let me know," Paul explains.

Louis rolls his eyes, "Whatever, I need to grab something so I'm heading out. Nialler you coming?" he says, knowing Niall is just as pissed as he is.

Niall nods, not offering anything verbal.

Louis holds Harry by his shoulders to speak to him. "You're going to sit with Liam and Zayn unless he instructs you otherwise, and you're going to be quiet and not make a fuss. If you start misbehaving again I'm going to be really disappointed in you, Harry. Show me you know how to be good," he says sternly.

Harry nods. "I will, Sir. Um, be careful when you go out," he says nervously.

Louis nods shortly, even though that was really cute of Harry to say and he kinda wants to wrap him up in a hug and press kisses all over his face. But he knows Harry is going to be punished soon, and be can't show him any good treatment for bad behaviour.

Louis and Niall then leave, Harry watching Louis like a lost puppy, and Liam rolls his eyes, turning to Paul.

"Just ignore the two of them, Louis' just jealous and Niall's, um, I actually don't know. I think he's just pissed off from the meeting we had. Either way they'll come around, mate. Do you wanna join us in the lounge area? We could get to know you a bit better?" Liam offers kindly.

Paul relaxes slightly and smiles warmly. "That sounds great, thanks Liam."

Liam smiles and grabs Zayn's hand, walking up the stairs and sitting on a sofa, pulling Zayn to sit on one of this thighs.

Paul sits on the next sofa and Harry tentatively waits standing up, unsure of where to go.

"Harry just sit down, would you? You can sit next to Paul," Liam says tiredly, pointing next to Paul.

Harry nods and quickly makes his way over, stumbling over his own feet a little.

He feels kinda stupid for not knowing where to sit, and he wants Louis to come back and hurry up with his punishment so he didn't have this guilty feeling anymore and so everyone would stop giving him the cold shoulder.

He stays silent and let's the other three talk, even though it's mainly Liam and Paul because Zayn still looks a bit shaken up from before.

After a while they hear the door being opened and Harry's head shoots up, internally smiling when Louis walks in looking slightly calmer with Niall.

"We're just pulling up to the hotel, we need to check in now. Harry, come and get your suitcase please," Louis says, walking to the bunks with Harry trailing after him.

Harry can't tell if Louis' still mad at him, even though he really didn't do anything _that_ bad in his opinion, and it's really throwing him off.

He grabs his suitcase, throwing in a jumper that had been on his bed, and zips the case up, carefully standing it upright.

"Is everything you need in there?" Louis asks, taking the suitcase and wheeling it to the corner.

"Um, yeah I think so," Harry says quietly.

Louis sighs and opens his arms, tugging Harry towards his chest.

Harry let's out a breath he didn't know he was holding and wraps his arms tightly around Louis.

"I'm sorry about the way the meeting went, Haz. It wasn't fair on you that everyone was talking about you like you weren't in the room. I wish they had more respect than that," Louis says sadly.

Harry shakes his head against Louis' jumper. " 's not your fault, you tried. I'm sorry about the way I spoke to you, this is all still really new to me," Harry says back.

"I know, sweetheart. I am still going to punish you, and for going to the club, but it won't be too hard, okay? I won't spank you just yet if you don't feel ready," Louis offers.

Harry thinks it over, relaxing slightly. "Um, what if it was like a smaller amount then usual? Just to, um, just so I can get used to it? A-And maybe something else to go with it so I'm still punished fairly?" he asks timidly.

Louis smiles and presses a kiss to Harry's forehead before letting go and grabbing both of their suitcases again. "Good thinking, love. We can do that as soon as we get to the hotel, and then we can talk about the meeting if you want? Or we could watch a movie if you wanted instead?"

Harry nods. "Okay, um, can we go now? So I can get it over and done with?"

Louis nods and takes the suitcases, leading the way out of the bus and up to the hotel, checking in with the receptionist and taking the keys to their room.

"Wait, don't I need to get my keys too?" Harry asks when Louis takes his key and walks off.

Louis turns to look at him with a frown. "No, you're sharing with me from now on. Or Niall sometimes, but you're not having a room to yourself anymore. C'mon, let's go."

Harry frowns with a small pout and follows Louis into the lift.

"Because you don't trust me to be alone?" he asks quietly as Louis presses the correct button for the lift.

Louis frowns too and caresses Harry's face softly whilst Harry's nuzzles into the touch. "No, sweetheart. It's just so we can make sure you're safe. Liam can't share cause he's got Zayn, obviously. Do you not feel safe sharing with me or Niall?"

"No!" Harry shouts, skin flooding red immediately, "I-I just mean, like, I don't have a problem. Sharing with you. I _want_ to share with you," he says shyly.

Louis smiles and runs his hand down to Harry's shoulder which he squeezes lightly. "Good to know, love."

Harry blushes again and fiddles with the sleeve of his sweater, following Louis out the lift when they reach their floor.

"Um, Lou?"

"What's up?"

"What's happening with my phone?"

"Oh, I called your phone company to freeze and wipe your phone, which they did," he says, finding their door number and opening the door.

Harry kinda wants to know if he can get a new phone but decides not to push his luck considering he was lucky enough to have gotten Louis in a good mood so far. 

Instead he just walks in and cheers internally when he sees the room only has one double bed.

"You can sleep on the far side," Louis says, moving his suitcase to that side.

"Do I not get a say?" Harry says amusedly, Louis giving him a stern look.

"No, I sleep next to the door, no arguments. It's just to give me the piece of mind that you're safe, okay?" Louis says sternly.

Harry wants to melt at how Dominant and protective Louis is being, how cared for and safe he feels in Louis' care, but thinks that would make him look a bit silly and decides against it.

"Okay, that's fine, thank you," Harry says softly, mind ever so slightly hazy.

Louis smiles and sits on the end of the bed, pointing to the floor between his knees, an indication to Harry to come and kneel there.

Harry quickly sinks to his knees by Louis, thighs parted, spine straight and hands held behind his back.

Louis smiles and rests a hand at the back of Harry's head, carefully stroking his scalp. "Good boy, okay here's what's going to happen, and remember at any time you can use your colours if you don't feel safe. Can you tell me your colour now?"

"Green, Sir," Harry says honestly.

"Good. Okay, I want you to go and sit facing the corner for ten minutes and to think over everything you've done over the last 24 hours, and then when I say, and only when I say, you can come back over here and I'm going to give you 15 spanks, ten with my hand and five with the paddle. Any questions?" 

Harry shakes his head. "No, Sir."

"Good boy. Okay, off you go then, I want you kneeling just like you are now, facing that corner," Louis says, pointing to the corner of the room he wanted Harry to go to.

Harry nods again and gets up, slowly walking to the corner before sinking back down to his knees.

He feels slightly anxious doing this, but he knows that's normal, especially considering this is his first ever punishment and he really doesn't want to mess it up.

Louis smiles at how perfectly Harry is sitting, staring intently at the wall and clearly thinking deeply about everything he's done.

He open his suitcase, smirking when he sees Harry tense up a little, and pulls out his paddle and his laptop.

After carefully placing the paddle on one side of the bed, he gets on the other and pulls out his laptop quickly answering to some emails.

Once the ten minutes is up he places the laptop on the bedside table. "Okay Harry, you're ten minutes are up. Come over here please," he commands.

Harry relaxes and quickly stands up, walking over to Louis who offers his hand to Harry and helps guide to the sub over his lap.

"Okay, you're doing really well, Haz. Now I want you to tell me what you've done wrong, nice and clear," Louis orders, resting a hand comfortingly on Harry's thigh. 

Harry takes a second to think everything over again, creating a list in his head to make sure he gets everything right.

"Um, I went to the club last night even though I'm not old enough, and I consumed alcohol, um, and then this morning at the meeting I was disrespectful and didn't listen to you," Harry says, his head turned to the side so he wasn't speaking into Louis' thigh.

"Good boy," Louis says, lightly squeezing his thigh, "anything else?"

Harry frowns, he thought he remembered everything but he doesn't want Louis to get mad at him.

"U-Uhm, I-I, u-um," Harry starts panicking, unsure of what to say, "u-u-uh-"

"Shh, don't panic. It's okay if you don't know, Haz. You just need to admit it, yeah?" Louis tells him kindly.

Harry let's out a breath, relaxing a little against Louis legs. "Yes Sir, sorry. Um, I'm not sure what else there is," he says quietly.

"That's okay. I think we can add lying about your classification to the list as well, yeah?" Louis suggests.

Harry wants to kick himself at his stupidity. Of course that was what Louis was asking for. "Yes Sir."

"Okay, good boy. Now, we're doing ten with my hand, five with the paddle, and then we're done. I want you to count each spank, and use your colours as and when you need. Understand?"

"Yes Sir. I'm green right now," Harry says honestly, turning his face back into Louis' thigh.

The Dom smiles even though he knows Harry can't see it. Harry was being so perfect for him, and it make him so happy to see.

Instead, he pulls Harry's trousers and pants down, using one arm to carefully lift Harry's hips up and the other to tug the garments down to his thighs before placing him back into his own thighs.

"Okay, I'm going to start now. Remember to count each one, if you miss any we will start again. Let's go," Louis says, quickly whacking his hand down firmly over Harry's right cheek.

Harry whimpers in shock, tears already springing to his eyes.

 _Fuck_ , Louis had a strong hand.

"O-One," Harry whispers.

Louis brings his hand just as sharply in the next cheek, jolting Harry slightly.

"Two."

They continue on, Louis bringing them down at an uneven rhythm, and not keeping to the same place.

"Ten! I'm sorry!" Harry whines, tears now streaming down his face.

Louis takes a moment to let Harry have a breather, carefully rubbing the sore skin on Harry's arse.

"I know you are, sweetie. Just a few left now, and then you can apologize as much as you want, yeah?"

Harry nods as he sniffles. "Yes Lou."

Louis smiles and grabs his paddle, weighing it up in his hands. It had been such a long time since he'd done this, and he was almost excited.

He'd just bought his plain one on tour with him, there in case Zayn ever needed it, (which he sometimes had to do if Liam was away), but if this became a regular occurrence Louis couldn't wait to use his personalised one with L.T carved into the wood, effectively leaving small L.T's over Harry's skin.

He rests the leather softly against Harry's arse, letting it sit there for a while as Harry's breathe hitches.

Suddenly he brings it down forcefully, watching curiously as Harry yelps and buries his face further into Louis' thigh, his hands gripping around Louis' legs.

When he doesn't offer a number, Louis taps the paddle lightly. "Harry..." he warns.

" 'leven! Eleven, I'm sorry," Harry whispers.

Louis smiles and brings the next two done in quick succession, feeling Harry tremble on top of him.

"Twelve, Thirteen," he whispers again.

"Harry tell me, are you a Dom?" Louis asks loudly.

Harry shakes his head vigorously. "Not a Dom, 'm Sub, I'm a sub!" he protests.

"Do _illegally_ go to clubs and consume alcohol?" Louis asks again, keeping a Dominant edge to his voice.

"No, Sir. I don't," Harry mumbles again.

Louis whacks the paddle again, harder then the other times.

"Ow! F-Fourteen," Harry says quietly.

"Are you disrespectful towards me? Do you ignore what I or the other boy's tell you to do? Do you _disobey_ us?" Louis shouts.

"No, Sir! I didn't mean it, won't do it again," Harry pleads.

"I'm telling you now Harry, this is a walk in the park compared to what you would have received under normal circumstances, and next time I won't be giving you special treatment. You follow your rules, and you do as we say. I don't want another repeat of earlier," Louis says sternly, whacking the paddle down for one last time, this time the hardest of them all.

"Fifteen! Ow, I'm so sorry!" Harry cries in pain.

Louis drops the paddle and pulls Harry up onto his lap, softly rubbing his back and whispering into his ear comforting words.

Harry sobs and wraps his arms tightly around Louis and curled up on his lap.

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again, promise. Won't be bad again, want to be good for you," he says over and over again.

"Shh, I've got you. You're not bad, sweetheart, just make bad choices sometimes, and that's why me and Liam are Niall are here, to help you. Calm down, love," Louis whispers reassuringly, holding Harry round his waist tightly and pressing a soft kiss to Harry's temple.

"Wanna be good for you," Harry whispers again, making Louis smirk.

"I know, H. You are, you're a good boy. Took your punishment so well," he comforts, stroking through Harry's curls.

They sit like that for a while, and once Harry's calmed down a little Louis rubs some cream onto Harry's bum, laughing when Harry squirms a little on the sheets.

He shuts the bottle with a smirk, "C'mon, pull your pants up and then we can cuddle on the bed if you want."

Harry giggles and does just that, leaving his trousers off and just lying in his t-shirt and boxers.

He puts his arms out and makes grabby hands, urging Louis to come and join him.

Louis smiles fondly and climbs on the bed, pulling Harry's thin frame into his broad one.

"Thank you, Lou. For everything you're doing for me, I'm really appreciative of it," Harry whispers, nuzzling his head into Louis chest.

Louis rubs Harrys head, "That's alright, darling. It's my pleasure, just happy you finally opened up to us."

Harry smiles happily, comfortable to just lie there with Louis in silence.

A little while later the door swings open and Niall comes barging in.

"Alright? I thought we could order some room service for lunch?" he announces, almost giving Louis a heart attack as he tightens his grip on Harry.

"Jesus Christ, Niall. You can't just walk in like that, we could have been doing anything!" He says exasperatedly.

"Yeah, well, Liam said he and Zayn were busy, which, I don't even wanna know what that means, and you guys had been in here ages so I figured you were fine with H's punishment and it would be safe!" Niall says happily.

Harry blushes and hides his face in Louis' chest again, embarrassed that Niall knows about his punishment.

Louis flips Niall off and kisses Harry's forehead. "Just ignore him, sweetheart. There's no need to get embarrassed, it's perfectly fine, I promise. C'mon, let's sit up and order some food, Niall's suggestion doesn't sound too bad."

Harry smiles and shyly let's go of Louis, sitting up with his back against the head rest.

Niall brings the menu over as Louis pulls Harry into his lap.

"What you feeling, babe? A sandwich? Or some soup? Or we could get you some chicken nuggets?" Louis asks, reading the menu for Harry who's taken to just resting his head on Louis and staring blankly at the sheet.

"C'n I get nuggets?" he asks hopefully, with a cute frown on his face.

"Sure thing, if you want to have a look in my suitcase, I got you something earlier when me and Niall left you guys on the bus," Louis says intriguingly.

Harry squints up at Louis. "What did you do?" he asks with trepidation.

Louis puts a finger to his lip and lightly pushes him off the bed and over to the suitcase.

Harry feels excited nerves in his tummy as he tentatively unzips the suitcase, gasping when he sees a new I phone box in the top.

"Louis! I could have got myself a new one! You really didn't have to do this..."he whispers in amazement, picking the box up nervously.

Louis laughs and walks over, standing behind him and wrapping his arms around him to hold the box.

"It's the newest model, and look, I got it engraved with your name at the bottom. And it's all sorted with your number and all your contacts and everything. And I got a couple cases as well, but if you don't like them we can look at some more," Louis says, happy that Harry likes it.

Harry turns around and wraps his arms around Louis _again_ , whispering "thank you's" into his ear over and over again.

Louis chuckles and wraps his arms around Harry's waist. "You're welcome darling. Try not to lose this one, yeah?"

Harry nods furiously. "I won't, I'll take good care of it. Promise," he says earnestly.

Louis smiles and inhales by Harrys pulse point on his neck. Something about the smell and the action just instantly causes Louis to calm down, and all the stresses of the day and last night start to dissipate, leaving Louis feel very content.

"Good boy. Come on then, let's join Nialler on the bed. Don't want him feeling lonely!"

Harry barks out a laugh, running over to Niall and engulfing him in a hug, leaving Niall with a lap full of Harry.

Harry winces every so slightly afterwards, not remembering his sore bottom.

"Ow, shit. I forgot.." he trails off.

Niall smiles and wraps Harry up in a hug. "That's alright, honey. I'm sure you'll soon get used to it. How about we watch a movie before the food comes? I just ordered, they said it shouldn't be too long."

Harry and Louis agree, Harry lying so he's sitting in Niall's lap but with his legs in Louis', feeling very content.

He realised what Zayn meant, about the punishment helping. He felt like he could fully relax and enjoy himself now, knowing that no-one was mad at him, and he wasn't a bad boy, and everything had been forgotten. It helped him feel like a good Sub.

-


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I left this so long without updating. I got caught up writing for my series, and I didn't have time for this.
> 
> Really hope you enjoy this chapter

"Harry I'm not saying this to be annoying, buddy. Your health is at risk if you don't start following some of the things I've been telling you to do for years."

Harry was having his monthly appointment with their tour doctor. Every month he would get weighed and measured and have a million tests and answer a million questions until Harry had the biggest headache, and every month the doctor would say his tests were all good, but he needed to start allowing his natural sub tendencies to shine through.

"But I told the boys! You said telling someone would make it better, and I did! It feels like whatever I do you're going to tell me it's not good enough!" Harry whines, avoiding eye contact with the doctor who just so happened to be a Dom too, like everyone fucking else on tour.

It had been a week since Harry had told the boys about being a sub, and so far everything hadn't been as bad as he'd initially thought it would be.

He hadn't been punished yet since that first time, which was good for Harry, but he felt like it was all building up to something, and he didn't know what.

There was also the Louis problem. As if he hadn't already had the biggest crush on the Dom, now with Louis actually acting dominant towards him, Harry felt like he was going to burst at any second.

And being able to distract himself with it by pulling guys at the club like he normally did was no longer an option, because he'd either have to bring them back to the bus, where everyone could hear, or bring them back to the hotel, where he was sharing a room with either Louis or Niall, and they'd be able to see _and_ hear.

"Look, kiddo, I don't know what else you want me to say. If you don't start doing these things I'm telling you, I'll have to let the boys know. They are your Dom's now, so they have control over knowing what goes on in these sessions we have," the doctor says.

"Then can I know what happens in there's?" Harry challenges defiantly, making the doctor sigh and squeeze the bridge of his nose.

"That's not how it works, Harry, and you know it. Let's just take a second to calm down and look through this leaflet for a bit," he says through gritted teeth.

Harry looks at the leaflet he's pushed across the table.

_How to help a neglected Sub._

_1\. Help the Sub by giving them clear rules. This will give the sub structure to their day and make them feel less clueless and lost._

_2\. Let the Sub kneel for you for at least ten minutes a day. This well help ground them as well as know their place in society._

Fucking know their place! What kinds of bullshit is this?!

_3\. Give the Sub a collar, even if it's only a subtle day collar. This will help remind the Sub constantly of their classification and that they do not hold the power Dom's hold._

Harry has fucking power! Being a Sub doesn't fucking define that!

"This is all fucking bullshit!" Harry shouts, flinging the leaflet of the table. "Fuck off, I don't need your fucking help. I'm my own person, I don't need Doms telling me what I can or can't fucking do. This i-is, it's just such fucking bullshit!"

Harry storms out of the room, ignoring the calls of Louis and Niall and walking straight out of the building, only realising he has tears of anger streaming down his face when a pap points it out.

He never should have gone to that fucking club! Then the boys wouldn't have found out he was a Sub and be wouldn't be in this fucking half in half out situation, where he was finally allowing himself to be a Sub but still having to lie!

How dare that doctor tell him he needs help! Harry knows how he feels, and he can sort everything out on his own, he doesn't need a fucking Dom to help him out with that!

-

Liam had been cuddling with Zayn on the sofa in their tour bus when Harry had stormed in, slamming the door behind him with anger clearly written all over his face.

"The fuck is wrong with you?" Zayn asks, getting off of Liam's lap to carefully approach Harry.

The youngest Sub rolls his eyes, staring angrily at Zayn. "Would you get out of my fucking way? Why do you always try to interfere with shit when it's not your business, Zayn. It's so fucking annoying."

Zayn rolls his own eyes, glaring back at the Sub. "Just cause you're angry, don't take it out on me, Haz. Control your fucking anger."

"Stop telling me what to fucking do! I'm so sick of being told what to do, what not to do, when to do shit! And now you as a sub are trying to tell me what to do as well?! You don't fucking control my life, Z, none of you do. Can you all just leave me the fuck alone and let me through!" Harry shouts, or more like screams, back, hands held in tight fists with tears continuously streaming down his face.

"Harry-"

"Both of you stop it right now!" Liam orders, finally walking over and separating the two. "Harry, you need to calm down and tell us what has made you so upset."

Harry laughs manically, pulling harshly at his hair. "I'm not telling you lot shit. You can order me around as much as you fucking want, but I don't have to listen. This, th-this whole concept of Doms owning Subs is so fucked up! I can't help being a naturally born Sub, so why should I have to be treated differently for it my entire life?! Why should I have to listen to Doms and do what they say or else _I'm_ the one who gets spanked, why should I be the one to constantly get looked down upon by people who know I'm a sub, purely because I'm a fucking sub?! This. Is. Bull. Shit!"

"That's enough! If you can't talk to us nicely don't say shit, Harry. You need to calm down, and when you have we can all have a nice chat to try and help you with how you're feeling, but until then keep your anger to yourself!" Liam says sternly, pulling Zayn back behind him just in case.

"Harry _please_ , I know you're scared but we can help you! You don't mean anything you're saying, I promise! It's just overwhelming, I know how it feels. Please just talk to me," Zayn pleads, a few tears streaming down his own face upon seeing his best friend distressed.

"How many fucking times do I have to tell you before it gets through your thick skull? I'm not telling you jack shit! I can deal with everything on my own, you can all forget I'm a Sub and go back to treating me how you did before. I don't need this shit in my life. Liam fucking let me get past!" Harry demands, pushing past the Dom and finally leaving, storming to the bunks and ripping his jacket off, throwing it to the floor and bursting into more tears, bringing a pillow to his face to hide his noises.

He instantly regretted the way he'd spoken to Zayn, and Liam for that matter, but he genuinely couldn't help it. He was just so sick of not being happy, he didn't want to have a problem that needed solving, he wanted to be able to cuddle up to Louis on the sofa just casually. Because they were boyfriends. Not because he was basically being forced to be his Dom for the time being.

The Sub curls up onto one of the bottom bunks, the one that Louis usually slept on and therefore making the sheets smell like him, and cries.

He doesn't know how much time has passed when he hears the door quietly open and a small body climbs into the bed next to him.

"Hazza please don't be sad," Zayn whispers, interlocking his arms and legs with Harry's and cuddling him tightly.

Harry cries header into Zayn, holding him tightly. "I'm sorry! It's just nothing makes sense anymore and I don't know what to do! The doctor said I needed help, but I don't have any issues! What if, Z what if I'm broken? What if I've pushed away my Sub tendencies for so long that I'm broken beyond repair?"

"Shh, shh, Hazza that's not going to happen. I know this sucks, babe, but you're just going to take what some Dom's say with a pinch of salt. I know the leaflet the doctor gave you, cause he gave it to me too and it's pissed me off at the time. Underneath all of the discriminatory shit, it does kinda make sense," Zayn whispers, playing with Harry's hair to try and calm him down.

"But I don't want to have to rely on a Dom for anything. A-and, I don't want people to see me as problem. I wish I was just a perfect little Sub who just did what the textbooks always say," Harry whispers honestly, sobs dying down but tears still streaming.

"Those textbooks are shit, Haz. They tell you how a Sub is 'supposed to be', and yet that's not how Subs are at all. You're still allowed an opinion, and you're allowed rights, and you're allowed to be who you wanna be, okay? You don't just do what your Dom says and clean and cook and at some point raise children. That really is bullshit. But you need rules, and kneeling does help, so does having a collar, and everything else that shitty leaflet says. Ignoring the shitty comments that come with it, everything it says to do will help you. And talking to Louis, or Liam and Niall, will help as well. It's biology, Hazza, it doesn't mean you have no self worth, okay?" Zayn explains, drying away his best friend's tears.

"I wish I was you so much," Harry whispers quietly, "I've always wanted to be you, Z. You've always been a role model to me, you're one of the nicest people I've ever met, and you give advice like no-one else. You're so pretty, and smart, and talented, and creative, I just wish I could be more like you."

Zayn frowns sadly. "Hazza, no. You're _you_ , and that's so fucking powerful. _You_ are cute, and adorable and sexy all at the same time which really isn't fair, _you_ are talented, fucking made to be a rockstar, _you_ are so fucking smart. Just because you're smart in different ways, and talented in different ways, and beautiful in different ways, doesn't mean you're any worse of a person. You're imperfections are what make you perfect, Hazza. When we first got put together in the band, when I was still quite shy, I wanted to be you _so_ fucking bad," he admits.

Harry gasps and searches Zayn's eyes. "Really? Why?"

Zayn smiles fondly. "Because. Here I was this shy, timid little Sub who couldn't get a word in edge ways even if I wanted to, too shy to really sing properly, always needing to ring my mum for reassurance. And then there was you, young Hazza. All bright green eyes and mad curls, just being unapologetically _you_. And that was what made you so special, babe. You weren't like normal 15 year old guys, but you fucking owned it, and you were proud of who you were. I felt like X factor was the only time we really saw that side of you, and then you very quickly started second guessing everything, wearing whatever a stylist told you to, saying whatever management told you to, singing how the producers wanted you to. It all made sense last week when we found out you were a Sub, and now I'm so fucking excited to get that cheeky, bubbly, _happy_ Harry back. We all are."

Harry's crying again by the end of Zayn's mini speech. He'd _always_ idolised Zayn, even when they were in X factor, and he never in a million years could expect Zayn to idolise _him_ , awkward, annoying Harry.

"C'mon, babe. Don't get upset again. I think maybe we should go and see Liam so you can apologize to him for shouting and being rude, and I think Louis' probably out there with Niall too now, and we can talk to them about that retched leaflet. Although knowing Louis, I'm sure he already knows about the damn thing," Zayn says with a laugh, drying underneath Harry's eyes one last time and climbing out of the bunk, pulling the sub out behind him.

"They're gonna be mad at me," Harry whispers.

"Yes, they probably will," Zayn says with a laugh.

"They're gonna spank me."

"Yup."

"It's gonna _hurt_."

"It will. But then you'll feel better, Haz. You won't feel guilty, and it will help you learn. That's how this works. Plus I'm so excited for you to get a day collar!" Zayn says happily.

Maybe this wouldn't be as awful as Harry had worked up in his head?

-

"Do you want to explain yourself?"

Okay so Louis was mad, as was Liam, and for some reason so why Niall but Harry thinks that's just cause they have to be unanimous in these situations so Niall just has to be mad at him.

"I said I'm sorry, I don't know what else you want me to say. I was upset, and overwhelmed. It's a lot, to go from Dom to Sub overnight, okay? And everything had been mostly going really well, it felt inevitable that I was going to snap at some point. I'm really sorry, for storming off, for shouting and Liam and Zayn, for not telling you how I felt. I'm sorry," Harry says honestly, keeping his eyes to the floor.

"You know we might start respecting that a little more if you start actually giving us eye contact when you talk to us, Harry," Louis says sternly, making Harry hold back a sigh and lift his head to look at Louis.

"I'm sorry," he repeats, trying his best to sound genuine, because he is.

"If you keep deliberately avoiding eye contact with us we'll add it as another rule, okay? You're to look in people's eyes when they are talking to you, Harry. Is called respect," Louis explains, voice very harsh.

"Yes, Sir. I'm sorry," Harry repeats.

"Right, I've spoken with your Doctor, and he informed me of everything the two of you spoke about, or, tried to talk about, considering you weren't exactly letting him speak," Louis says indirectly, raising an eye brown as he goes it sit on a sofa. "Come here and kneel, now."

Harry quickly rushed over and sank to his knees in front of Louis, thighs and apart and hands behind his back.

"You'll be kneeling for at least two ten minute intervals each day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. This can be with either myself, Niall or Liam, no negotiations. During these times you will kneel just as you are now before us, staying silent unless you are colouring out, and thinking about your rules. Clear?"

Harry really doesn't want to make Louis any more mad at him then he already he is, so just quickly nods his head. "Yes sir, clear."

"Good boy. If you can do this successfully for a week, as well as no punishments for a week, we'll be giving you a day collar. This is a luxury for Subs, and so will only be issued as a reward for good behaviour. Understand?"

Harry nods quickly again, very excited to have a day collar. "Yes sir, I understand."

"Good boy. Now, as Liam informed me you were rather upset when you came storming in here earlier, after you walked out of the building without me and Niall, with no security. Would you like to explain why exactly you were upset?" Louis asks harshly, clearing showing Harry where he went wrong and why he was inevitably in trouble.

"It was the leaflet, sir. It made me feel like I had no control over my whole life, you know? It kept saying like, to show a sub it's place, so they know where they stand, messed up shi-, messed up stuff like that. It was too much," Harry says timidly.

"I'm sorry you felt like that, sweetheart. But is the way to go about that to throw a strop and speak rudely and disrespectfully towards Liam and Zayn?" Louis asks sternly, pulling Harry's chin up making the sub whimper a little.

"No Sir, I shouldn't have done it. I'm really sorry," he says quietly.

"You're going to be punished, Harry. You put yourself at risk by going out by yourself, which needless to add is a specific rules of yours. Furthermore, you didn't show respect to Liam or Zayn, and that again is a specific rule of yours. But before we do that, I want you to understand that when you feel you're being treated unfairly you absolutely have to tell us, okay? I've told you before, you aren't fighting this alone anymore, Haz. Unfortunately, not everyone is as fair as myself, Liam and Niall, and there's not anything I can do to change that. We can help you, but not if you don't let us, if you keep pushing us away. Do you understand, sweetheart?" Louis says, softer now.

"Yes Sir, I'm sorry, it just, it's a lot to take in. Makes me even more scared to come out to the public, if this is what it's its life with everyone on my team knowing," Harry admits shyly.

Louis sighs and runs a hand through Harry's hair. "I know, love. But we'll be there the whole way when you do decide to, okay? And Zayn too, he's already been through all of this, yeah? I know it seems scary, darling, but you're not going to be alone dealing with it by yourself. We're here for you," Louis says truthfully, stroking Harry's head.

The sub wants to melt under Louis' touch, everything the Dom says making him feel more and more okay.

"Thank you, sir. I'm sorry for freaking out."

"That's alright. I think we should deal with your punishment now, yeah? You happy for me to do it?" Louis asks, helping Harry to stand up as he does so too.

"Please," Harry whispers, not wanting anyone _but_ Louis to punish him. It wouldn't feel right if it was someone else.

"C'mon then," Louis says as he leads Harry to the back of the bus once again, finding themselves in a similar situation to last week.

Louis sits on the bottom bunk, leading Harry back over his lap.

"I want you to remember that just because you're about to be punished again, it doesn't make you a bad sub. It just means you're learning, as you should be, okay? This doesn't devalue your worth as a sub," Louis says forcefully, pulling Harry's pants down and reaching for his Sub which is strategically placed under the bunk.

"Yes, Lou."

"Good boy. I'm going to be spanking you fifteen times again, but this time they will all be with the paddle. Colour?"

"Green, Sir."

Louis then starts, much as he did a week ago, if anything hitting Harry slightly harder than he had last week, knowing the sub could take it.

By the tenth spank Harry was sobbing, barely making sense when he counted each hit, burying his face deeply into Louis' thigh.

"Fifteen!"

Louis drops the paddle and sweeps the sub into his arms, Harry seeming more out of it than he was like week as he cuddles into Louis, holding onto him like a life line.

"Good boy, sweetheart, you took that so well. I'm really proud of you, Hazza, you're learning so well. Make me so proud," Louis whispers, pressing a little kiss to Harry's head.

Harry doesn't seem to be able to talk, but his tears manage to stop and he hugs Louis tightly.

"You want to take a nap, baby?" Louis asks softly, brushing some hair away from Harry's hair, trying to gauge some sort of reaction from the Sub.

If Harry was more aware there's absolutely no way he would still be breathing after being called baby by _Louis fucking Tomlinson_! It's probably a good thing he's so out of it.

"Or do you want to cuddle with me up front with the other boys?"

Harry frowns and looks spacily into Louis' eyes, almost like a drunk person would. "Cuddle?"

Louis smiles and stands up with Harry carefully held in his arms. 

"Soon, Hazza, I promise you soon I'll tell you how I feel. I love you so much, and you don't even know it. You're so special," Louis whispers, Harry not able to hear or process anything the Dom's saying.

Louis hoped, for Harry's sake, that he would stay out of trouble for the next week so he could finally give him a collar, even if it was only a day collar. It would be _his_ , and it would be around Harry's neck.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading this chapter.
> 
> Please let me know how you felt about it, it felt a bit shorter than other chapter I'm not sure.
> 
> I love all of your comments, keep them coming xx


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, hope you all enjoy xx

"So, like, a necklace?" Liam suggested.

"No, that's _too_ subtle. And he already wears that cross necklace all the time, its just gonna blend in with that. It needs to be more collar-like," Louis sighs, burying his face in his hands.

The three Dom's were sitting backstage, waiting for the concert to start, whilst Harry and Zayn were on the opposite side of the stage. Harry had so far kept a good record, and the Dom's were trying to figure out a good day collar for him that would serve its purpose without being a clear sign he was a Sub.

"So, like, a choker necklace then?" Niall suggests.

"Ni, what Dom do you know that wears a fucking choker necklace?" Liam asks tiredly.

Tomorrow marked a week since Harry had been told he'd get a collar if he was good, and all week the three Dom's had been at a loss of what to give him, this exact conversation having gone around what felt like a billion times already.

"Okay, chill the fuck out, Liam. It was just a fucking suggestion, Jesus," Niall bites back, rolling his eyes and turning slightly away from Liam and towards the stage instead.

"I'm just saying, it has to respect the fact that Harry is a Dom to the eye of the public, and this collar can't give that away. Don't get arsey with me," Liam argues, also turning away from him.

"Alright, would you two cut it out? This is supposed to be about Harry, not you two. Can we focus on the actual subject of Harry's collar? We have to give it to him tomorrow and so far we haven't got shit to give," Louis stresses.

The three sit in silence for a bit, nobody having any new suggestions.

"Maybe we could make him somehow fuck up so we have another week to sort it out?" Niall jokes, laughing when Louis glares at him, "I'm joking! Chill out!"

"It's not fucking funny. Harry's been really well behaved this week, you can tell how hard he's working for this. We can't screw that up for him cause we're all useless," Louis sighs.

"Boys! Three minutes!" the tour manager speaks through their in ears, making the boys take their mics and make their way under the stage.

"Have you tried asking Zayn?" Niall asks Liam.

"Good point, we can ask him later, if we can get him away from Harry for two seconds," Liam says with a soft laugh.

"Honestly, those two have been attached by the fucking hip all week. I have to actually _ask_ to have a conversation with Harry now," Louis complains.

Niall and Liam share a look of amusement. "Just because you've been obsessed with Harry for three years and aren't used to having to share him, Lou."

Louis flips him off and climbs into his little hole, crouching down to fit in and looking to Harry whose in the cube next to him. "You all sorted out, Haz?"

Harry nods with a wide smile. "Yeah, I'm really excited! Have you seen how big the audience is?"

Louis smiles fondly at him, only Harry would get more excited at how big the audience was.

"Yeah, it's huge! You're gonna smash it, Hazza. Enjoy it," Louis says softly, pushing his other ear piece in and facing the front, hearing the crowd cheer louder at the countdown before their platforms will shoot up one by one to start the concert.

This was gonna be epic, and Louis couldn't wait. But he really needed to sort out the collar for Harry, it had to be special and mean something for him.

-

Harry came running off the stage with one final wave to the audience. The concert had been so good, but now the adrenaline was quickly wearing off and he was knackered.

Louis comes up to him with a big grin, taking his ear pieces out and passing them to the tour manager with both of their mics before sliding his hand into Harry's and pulling him along to their dressing room.

"Fuck, that was so good!" Niall shouts as he comes running in, clearly still buzzing from the concert, quickly followed by Liam who's carrying a very sleepy looking Zayn.

Harry stares at Liam and Zayn somewhat sadly, and maybe a little bit jealously, wishing he could be carried by Louis like that when he's tired. Instead he just pushes his head onto Louis' shoulder, sagging all of his weight into the Dom.

Louis laughs gently and wraps an arm around Harry. "You tired, sweetheart?"

The Sub blushes a little and nods, rubbing his eye with a fist.

Louis walks Harry over to the sofa and sits down, pulling him into his lap. "We'll be able to leave soon, I'm sure. As soon as the crowds have all dispersed."

Harry nods and curls up to Louis, too tired to worry about coming across as needy or clingy.

"Hey, have you seen this really cool fan project thing," Harry mutters into Louis' chest, Zayn perking up a little from where Liam had set him down.

"The bandana thing?" he asks excitedly.

Louis frowns and looks at the other two Doms, both looking as confused as he felt. "What 'bandana' thing?"

"Zayn was showing me earlier. Basically, you wear a bandana to show your favourite member of the band. Green for me, blue for Louis, yellow for Zayn, um, red for Liam, I think. I can't remember Ni's," Harry explains tiredly, eyes shutting as he feels himself slowly fall asleep.

"Niall's is white. Don't you think it's cool! And you can, like, tie dye them if you want to show your support for all of us! It's such a cool idea!" Zayn says with bright eyes.

Louis frowns at him fondly. "Why are you two so excited about this?"

Harry whines a little and Louis looks down to see he's actually fallen asleep.

Zayn looks at Harry too before looking back at Louis. "Just saying, you know, you could get him a blue one," he offers with a shrug, walking back over to Liam to hide his smirk.

Louis frowns before realising what Zayn was insinuating as his face breaks out into a wide grin. He carefully moves Harry off if his lap, making sure he's still asleep, and walks over to Zayn, swinging him round. "You're a fucking genius, Z."

Zayn squeals a little and blushes, looking down and standing closer to Liam when he's put back on the floor. "It's just a suggestion. I know you guys have been stressed about it, and I didn't mention it to Harry like as a suggestion for a collar. So it can still be a suprise if you wanted. I just, I think he'd really like it, and it's a good balance between being a collar but being subtle. If you don't like it you don't have to do it, obviously, like I said, it's just a suggestion, I'm not going to be offended if you don't-"

"Z, babe, stop rambling," Liam interrupts kindly, rubbing Zayn's back when he blushes again. "It's a really good idea, pup, thank you for sharing with us."

Zayn smiles happily. "I just, I know how bad Harry wants it to be special. And it _is_ tomorrow, you guys are kinda leaving it all a bit last minute."

Louis rolls his eyes fondly, ruffling Zayn's hair, much to the Subs dismay, and walks back over to Harry, carefully lifting him up into his arms and keeping him asleep. "We don't need the sass, Z."

Zayn glares at him behind his back, turning to his Dom with a humph. "I was joking!"

Liam snickers and caresses Zayn's face. "I know, pup, he's just cranky. Ignore him, he probably doesn't even mean it."

Zayn glares a little at Louis again, making even Louis laugh a little, and turns to Liam with his hands up. "Harry's getting carried, can I too?"

"Harry's sleeping, sweetheart. You have two legs, you can walk to the car," Liam says softly but sternly. 

If it was purely up to him he'd do everything Zayn asked and wanted, he'd give him the fucking universe if he could. But he also didn't want Zayn to become lazy or spoiled, or dependent on him.

Zayn huffs a little again, muttering "fine" under his breath, holding Liam's hand and dragging him over to the door. "Can we at least go now?"

Liam looks around the room to see Louis holding Harry tightly by the door and Niall texting someone on the phone, but other than that ready to go. "Lads, we all ready?"

Louis and Niall look up and nod, getting their things and walking over to the couple to get ready to leave.

As they're walking down the corridor Louis breaks the silence. "Where the fuck am I supposed to get a blue bandana at such late notice?"

"Um, I don't know, mate," Liam says shrugging.

Louis looks to Niall who also gives him a helpless look.

"I've googled, there's a few stores near this hotel and the one we're staying in tomorrow that sell bandana's. You could call one of the ones near tomorrows hotel and ask them to, like, gift wrap it and have it ready for when they get it?" Zayn offers.

Liam looks at Zayn weirdly. "Pup, when did you have all this time to look into this so much?"

Zayn shrugs. "Just googled it. Didn't want Harry to be without a collar by the end of tomorrow. He's been really trying this whole week to be as good as he can. It's probably why he's so tired now. I really didn't want him to be disappointed when he didn't get a collar after all that hard work."

"Zayn, we would have gotten him one, even if it was shit, by tomorrow. We wouldn't have just let it slip by with no mention of it," Niall says from behind him.

"I know, I just, like I said I wanted it to be special for him. I just made sure it would all work in case you hadn't sorted something out yet," Zayn says quietly.

The five reach the back door of the building and Niall peaks out the window, sighing in relief when he sees no crowd. "Thank fuck, they must have all gone now. Let's just go while we still can."

They walk to the two cars that are waiting for them, Liam and Zayn in one and Harry, Louis and Niall in the other, Niall seating up front with the other two in the back.

Louis thanks the driver as they get in, jostling Harry awake a little as he does.

"Hm? Wha's goin' on?"

"Shh, go back to sleep, sweetheart. I'll get you into bed safely, just rest for now," Louis says softly as he buckles Harry in with the seat belt, repeating the same for himself.

Harry finds no reason why not to do just as Louis told him to and quickly finds himself fast asleep again, dreaming about his collar that he was almost definitely going to get tomorrow.

-

When Harry wakes up he doesn't feel strong arms around him as he had done for the past few weeks and it makes him feel uneasy.

"Lou?" he whispers, feeling around the bed for a body that he doesn't find.

"Oh, hey Haz, you're awake. You wanna start getting ready soon? We've got an interview to get to," Niall says as he walks out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his hips.

Harry rubs his eye and tries to hide his disappointment. He'd hoped Louis would wake him up with the collar today, but at the very least he'd hoped, or expected, Louis to be in the bed with him like he had been for two weeks.

"Where's Lou?" he mumbles raspily.

"Dunno, in his own room I expect, you slept here last night. C'mon, Hazza, we don't have a lot of time to waste," Niall says slightly more sternly, pulling some clothes out for himself to wear.

The Sub sighs and pulls himself out of bed, stumbling over to the bathroom and having a quick wee before splashing water over his face. With another sigh he quickly goes back to the bedroom, finding his toothbrush and toothpaste and starts brushing his teeth as he walks back to the bathroom.

He knows he's not technically Louis', the Dom is simply doing him a favour by being his stand in Dom, but Harry thought...he just thought maybe there was something else there on Louis' end.

There was certainly something else there on Harry's end.

What is Louis only ever saw him as a little brother and Harry was wasting his time lusting after him? He'd always told himself that it was normal for Louis not to like him because Louis thought he was a Dom, but now Louis _knew_. He knew and he still didn't change his mind.

Maybe they just weren't meant to be.

He spits slightly more aggressively than usual into the sink and rinses his mouth, not bothering to clean the sink before leaving the room and shoving some clothes on quickly.

Niall doesn't mention anything, just sits on the bed now fully clothed waiting for Harry whilst he plays with his phone.

"You nearly done, Haz?"

"Yes," Harry replies shortly, shoving everything into his suitcase and zipping it up, wheeling it over to the door, "I'm ready."

Niall smiles and grabs his own suitcase, opening the door and taking the key card out of the slot before locking the door behind them and walking towards the lift.

"You alright? You seem a bit quieter than usual," Niall says offhandedly as they enter the lift.

Harry tries not to roll his eyes and just holds on tightly to his suitcase. "I'm fine, just find it odd that I didn't get a say in where I slept last night."

Niall frowns and thinks about how to answer the Sub. "Do you have a problem sharing a room with me?"

"No, I just would have liked to have been told. Since I'm not allowed to sleep by myself I've always slept with Louis, don't really see why I didn't yesterday," Harry mumbles, not wanting to offend Niall but also wanting to know what had changed last night that meant he was put with the younger Dom instead.

"You were quite tired last night, maybe Louis didn't want to wake you up? And it's not really any different to sleeping on the tour bus with me so theres no reason why you'd have an issue with it," Niall offers, stepping out of the lift when the doors open and leading the sub to the lobby.

"No, I didn't- look just don't worry about it, Ni. It's fine I'm just a bit tired still, forget it," Harry mumbles grumpily, stepping ahead of the Dom and waiting next to Liam and Zayn who were already in the lobby.

"Alright guys? We can head to the bus now, Louis' already gone to get- um, gone. He's gone. Shall we go?" Liam says, busying himself by checking Zayn's collar so Harry won't ask any questions about Louis' whereabouts whilst Zayn bites his lip to try and hold a snicker. Liam really is a terrible actor.

"Louis' gone where?"

Zayn presses his head into Liam's shoulder to try even harder to hide his amusement and the Dom in question goes red and frowns at Harry.

"Um, he has gone, um, I don't actually think he specified where he went, did he Zayn?" he splutters.

"No, sir," Zayn says, looking over to Harry when he's composed himself, "Sorry, Haz, he said he'll be back soon."

Harry eyes the couple and turns to look at Niall whose lost interest in their conversation and has resorted back to his phone.

"Whatever, can we just go now?" he asks quietly, looking down at the floor sadly.

He's probably hooked up with another sub. That makes sense why he didn't sleep with Harry last night and why he's not here now. He's probably sleeping right now next to some tiny, skinny, blonde girl who's the perfect submissive sub for Louis. Not like Harry who's got dark, wild hair, lingering baby fat over his hips and is so un-submissive everyone believed he was a Dom until two weeks ago.

Harry was a fool for ever believing him and Louis could he a thing when Louis can do so much better than him.

"Hazza don't get upset, babes. He's just popped out for something and he'll be back for the interview. He hasn't abandoned you or anything, we can call him if you want?" Zayn says softly, knocking him out of his thoughts.

Harry shakes his head, looking back at the floor. "I'm fine, I just want to go."

Zayn looks in concern up at Liam who shakes his head and puts a finger on his lips, silently telling him not to get involved.

"Let's go then," the Dom says, putting a hand to the small of Zayn's back, wheeling the two suitcases in his other hand as they leave and head to the bus which is waiting for them in the car park.

Niall walks next to Harry silently, the sub glad to have the Dom next to him just in case.

Luckily there's no paps or fans and the four boys can easily and quickly walk up to the bus without being disturbed.

When they get there Paul is waiting for them, welcoming them on and helping Harry with his suitcase to which Harry us very grateful.

Over the past few weeks the Dom has become a very important part of their team and Harry in particular has made a very strong friendship with him.

"Y'alright, Haz? No Louis today?" Paul says as the two of them take the suitcases to the back of the bus whilst the rest of the boys take a seat in the games room.

Harry shrugs and avoids eye contact with the Dom. "No, apparent he's "gone out", whatever that means," he says, Paul hiding a smirk at Harry's sassy tone.

"You missing him?"

"No, why would I be missing him? He's allowed to "go out" all he wants, I don't control him," Harry sulks, setting the cases down.

"Hazza you've told me you like him, remember? You don't have to try and hide that from me, it's what I'm here for. Do you want to talk to me about what's really going on?" Paul asks kindly.

Harry sighs and looks up to Paul sadly. "I know this makes me sound really bratty and spoiled, but last night I fell asleep in the car and I guess Louis brought me up to sleep in Niall's room. And I really like Niall! But since everything happened I've slept with Louis, and he didn't even ask me if I wanted to sleep with Niall. What if, what if he was sleeping with someone else?"

"Louis?! The man who makes a point of constantly getting my name wrong, even though he knows he Paul, just because he doesn't like you getting close to another Dom? Give it a break, Haz," Paul teases.

Harry looks away to the floor. "I was being serious. Paul be honest with me am I just kidding myself by thinking I ever have a chance with him?"

Paul sighs and brings Harry in for a hug, trying his best to comfort the clearly sad Sub. "Haz, of course not. Louis looks at you like you hang the sun. It doesn't make you sound bratty or spoiled, kiddo."

"I just, I've tried so hard this whole week to be perfect for everyone, and, I dunno. I thought I'd definitely get my day collar today, like Louis said. And he wasn't even there when I woke up," Harry says in a small voice, relaxing into Paul's hug.

"H, remember when I said you showed signs of a neglected sub?" Paul asks hesitantly.

"I'm not a neglected sub!" Harry defends again, stepping back from Paul and folding his arms defensively across his chest.

"It's not a reflection on you, Haz. I'm just saying, I think you not liking when something suddenly is different or your not with Louis so much is because for so long you didn't have that kind of stability and your body is scared that's going to happen again. Like, everything was wrong when they all thought you were a Dom, and then you've been sleeping next to Louis ever since and it's all been easier since then, and you don't want that to change. If you accept that you were neglected we can try and get you some proper help, kiddo," Paul says, trying his hardest not to sound condescending.

Harry keeps looking at the floor to avoid Paul's intruding eyes. He's not a neglected Sub! He doesn't need "help" because there wasn't every anything wrong with him in the first place. Paul's just chatting shit, doesn't know what he's talking about. This is all bull shit anyways.

"Look I'm just tired. I don't need any help, okay? I don't need it," Harry says decidedly before leaving the room to sit with the others.

Paul sighs as he puts the suitcases into the corner of the room. These boys would be the fucking death of him, and yet he still wouldn't have it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hii, I know this one's a bit shorter again and I know I've been rubbish with updates recently.
> 
> I always get to this stage when I really like the beginning bit of the fic and don't wanna ruin it for you all so I get scared to keep writing in case it starts being really bad??? I dunno I just want it to be good for everyone.
> 
> Also I know this chapter didn't have much Louis Harry action, there will be more next chapter promise.
> 
> As always let me know what you thought, and again thank you so much to everyone who is always commenting xx
> 
> (Side note it's my 17th birthday in a few weeks and I'm really scared I'm not ready to almost be an adult ahhhh)
> 
> Thank you all for reading and hope you likes this chapter xxxxx


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, hope you guys enjoy x

When Louis finally gets back to the bus, one bandana more than when he left, he finds Harry kneeling by Paul's feet in the games room with Liam, Niall and Zayn all playing some video game very intently.

Louis rolls his eyes and swings his back pack off to the floor, the bandana secured safely inside, before walking over to Paul and Harry, trying to push away the flare of jealousy he gets seeing his sub kneeling for someone else.

 _He's not your sub_ , a voice in Louis' head taunts, the Dom just pushing it away.

"I'll take it from here," Louis says sternly, not returning the smile Paul gives him and rolling his eyes again when the man gets up and heads to the front of the bus.

"Louis-"

"You're supposed to be kneeling, Harry. We don't talk when we're kneeling, do we?" Louis asks shortly, sitting down in front of the sub so Harry is almost sitting between his legs.

Harry looks back down to his lap sadly. "No, Sir."

"Good boy. How much longer do you have left?"

"Five minutes, sir," Harry says quietly.

He'd thought that Louis would be there when he woke up, and he hadn't. But that's fine because Louis is an adult and is probably very busy.

So he'd thought when he finally got back he'd at least get a cuddle or something, screw the kneeling, and he hadn't gotten that either. 

And just now Louis had sounded so cold to him, like he was mad at him about something and he didn't even know what it was he'd done.

Annoyingly, Harry could feel himself getting upset and his eyes were beginning to water. Which, absolutely not, he was not going to cry over something so stupid and pathetic.

He kneels there for a few more minutes, trying to take calming breaths and not work himself up, until Louis speaks up again.

"Okay, Haz. You're times up. You wanna come for a cuddle?" Louis asks quietly, stroking a hand through the subs hair.

Harry looks up at him, eyes wide as he tries to work out whats wrong with him. "Um, yes, please."

Louis smiles fondly and pulls Harry up into his lap, wrapping his arms around him tightly. "You had a good morning?"

Harry relaxes into Louis' arms, glad to finally have some kind of contact with him. "Not really. You weren't there when I woke up," he says in a small voice.

Louis frowns as he detangles Harry's curls. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. You were asleep before I could tell you last night that you'd have to sleep with Niall. It's not a problem is it?"

"No, it's not a problem that it's Niall. I just didn't like not being told where I was gonna sleep," Harry whispers, nuzzling his head into Louis' neck further.

"Okay, darling, thank you for telling me. I'm sorry, next time I'll make sure to let you know, yeah? Good boy for telling me how you felt, Harry, you should always tell me if you're uncomfortable with something," Louis says softly.

Harry nods and closes his eyes, relishing in the comfort Louis is finally giving him. "Are you mad at me?" he finally asks quietly, not able to hold it in any longer.

Louis freezes momentarily, looking up to the other boy's who are clearly eavesdropping and all give him a look of confusion. "No, sweetheart, of course I'm not. Why would you think that?"

The Sub shrugs, feeling small in Louis' arms. "Dunno. Don't worry, forget I said anything."

"Hey, no, c'mon," Louis says as he pulls Harry back from his chest to look him in the eye, "Tell me what's wrong, please," he says sternly.

Harry sighs, looking intently into Louis' _blue blue_ eyes. "I don't know. You just seem different today. Like I've annoyed you or something."

Louis frowns and strokes Harry's hair. "I'm not annoyed with you, Hazza, I promise. I'm not upset with you or mad at you or anything like that. Do I have a reason to be?"

Harry shakes his head.

"No, see, you're a good boy, sweetheart. If I was annoyed at you about something I'm pretty sure you'd know, yeah?"

"So you're not annoyed with me?" Harry checks.

"No, darling, I'm not. You've been really well behaved all week, Hazza, me and the boys have all noticed. And I haven't forgotten what day it is today, so keep it up and maybe you'll get a suprise," Louis teases, smiling fondly when Harrys face breaks into a smile.

The sub blushes and hides his face into Louis shoulder. "Thought you forgot," he mumbles.

Niall laughs loudly from behind them. "As if Louis would forget, Haz!"

Harry doesn't even care if Niall's taking the micky out of him. Louis remembered! He could be getting his collar today! 

In Harry's opinion this was way more exciting than any birthday or Christmas he'd ever had!

He had to stay well behaved all day now.

-

"C'mon, Hazza, it's only once! They won't even notice we're gone. Or care for that matter!"

The 5sos boys had joined them on tour, and whilst Harry loved them more than anything, Luke and Ashton were notoriously known for being cheeky and naughty all the time. 

They also knew Harry was now a Sub and were wanting him in on everything.

"I don't know, Luke," Harry says worriedly, biting his bottom lip anxiously as his wide eyes dart around the stadium. "I'm not supposed to be getting in trouble."

"Haz, they always say that! They just want you to be well behaved so their life's not difficult! They don't really care about anything else, promise. Mikey wants me to be well behaved so he doesn't have any stress. They won't even care if they don't notice," Luke argues back.

"He's right, H. Cal wants an easy day, so they don't care as long as we don't get hurt. They just tell you all that stuff about being good and whatever so you don't cause trouble, cause it reflects badly on them. They won't find out, and they won't care. C'mon, don't be boring like Zayn," Ashton whines.

Harry frowns, still look around nervously incase Louis, or Liam or Niall, suddenly turn the corner and seen them all conspiring. Luke and Ashton want to sneak out of sound check so they can test out the golf buggies downstairs. "Zayn's boring?"

Ashton rolls his eyes. "Like, we love Zayn, don't get me wrong. But he literally never wants to do anything fun with us, just wants to hang out with you lot, doing what he's supposed to. He's older than us as well, and it's like he's always trying to prove a point that he's more mature than us because he has a couple years on us," the sub complains.

Harry frowns. All the boys in 5sos were 18/19, not that much younger than Zayn. And Harry always looked up to Zayn as a role model, thought what he was doing was what was best.

What if it wasn't?

"Guys, I have a specific rule saying don't go out without security. I really don't wanna get in trouble today, I'm supposed to be getting my collar," Harry says quietly, not wanting to sound boring but always not wanting to be bad again.

"Look, Harry. You're only young, we have more experience than you. We know what's right and what's wrong. We can help you, trust us. It'll be fun," Luke says pursuaisively.

Harry's not so sure that's true. Sure, they're older than him, everyone it seems at this point is. 

But, and Harry doesn't mean this in a narcissistic way, one direction were a lot more successful than 5sos. And Harry had been through a lot of shit the two subs before him hadn't. 

He eyes both of their necks jealously, both of them showcasing thick, black leather in the form of a collar.

Luke and Ashton could publicly be Subs, just like Zayn. 

It was marketable for them.

It wasn't marketable for Harry.

Did that mean Harry was a bad sub?

"Harry?" 

The three subs all looked up in shock, hearing Niall's voice calling for the youngest.

"Shit," Luke mouths at Ashton.

"Shh," Ashton mouths to Harry, holding a finger over his sealed lips.

Harry was conflicted. He wanted to be accepted by Luke and Ashton, already having been friends with them for ages anyways, but he also wanted to go say hi to Niall in case everyone was worried about him or something.

(And also because he felt slightly unsafe here without one of his Dom's right now.)

"Haz! Where are you, pet? Everyone's looking for you," Niall calls again, this time closer.

Luke and Ashton give a warning look to Harry, but it's futile.

"I'm here!" Harry calls, looking guilty when his two friends roll their eyes, clearly annoyed.

Niall comes into view then, clearly relieved to finally have found his band mate, but also confused.

"Finally. Harry we've been looking all over for you, what are you doing? Why are the three of you here talking? You _know_ we've got sound check," Niall says tiredly, pulling Harry away and closer to him.

"Sorry. Was just talking. Didn't realise we'd been gone for so long, is everyone annoyed?" Harry asks quietly, holding on tightly to Niall's hand, glad for the comfort.

"Louis' not annoyed, pet, just worried. Let's get going now though, yeah?" Niall asks, though it's not really a question as much as an order.

Harry looks up apologetically at the two other subs, who are glaring at him with annoyed expressions. "Okay."

Niall nods before looking up sternly. "Should you two be out here as well?"

"Yeah, it's cool, we're not babies. You can go now," Ashton says with a roll of his eyes, giving Harry another dirty look.

The Dom looks unsure but decides Harry's his problem and the other two aren't, and they really are running late for sound check, so he guides Harry back to the arena with a hand to the small of his back.

The sub bites his lip worriedly. Were Luke and Ashton right? Was Zayn boring? Should Harry be more like them, cause he definitely didn't want to be boring too?

His tummy was also starting to hurt a little for not sticking up for Zayn, especially after he'd been so kind to him after the last few days.

How was he supposed to know who was right here? Were Luke and Ashton right, and Harry didn't actually need to follow his rules so long as the Dom's all had an easy day, or were his own band mates right, and his rules were for his well-being and safety?

"Um, Niall?" he asks quietly after a while, fiddling with the hem of his shirt anxiously.

The Dom looks over with a small frown of concern on his face. "What's up, sweetheart?"

"Um, d-do you give me rules to make your life easier, or to keep me safe?" he asks in a small voice, keeping his eyes on the floor incase Niall got mad.

"Why are you asking me this?" Niall asks, his frown deepening.

"Just something Luke and Ash said."

Niall sighs. "Look, Luke and Ash are very cheeky, some might call it naughty, Louis would probably say bratty, but that's just the way they are. Maybe they do things differently in Australia, or maybe that's just the way their particular relationships work, I don't know. But you shouldn't trust everything they say, okay? What _did_ they say?"

Harry shrugs as Niall opens the door to the stage. "They just said that you guys are setting me rules to keep your life easy, and as long as I kept your life easy, it didn't matter if I did things that went against my rules," Harry says quietly, peeking up to see where Louis was standing.

Niall stops walking and steps in front of the Sub, placing his hands on Harry's shoulders and bending down ever so slightly so they were eye to eye. "Harry, listen to me clearly. You're rules are to keep you safe and happy, even if you don't see it. They are put in place for _your_ well-being, nothing to do with us. Luke and Ash were probably just trying to get you to join in with their plan."

Harry looks to the floor and nods, his mind still running wild.

"What's going on here?" Harry hears a special Doncaster voice say, looking nervously up to see Louis next to Niall, looking with concern at him.

"Just explaining something to Haz, don't worry. We should probably get back to sound check before Liam bursts a blood vessel with stress," Niall jokes, walking back over to his mic and plugging in his guitar.

"You alright?" Louis asks quietly as he leads the sub to his mic, which is strategically placed right next to his own.

Harry just nods as he busies himself with adjusting his mic stand.

Louis frowns but drops it, going over to his own mic stand and deciding to broach the subject again with the sub later.

"Okay, so now we've all decided to turn on twenty minutes behind schedule, we're gonna have to rush this a little," their tour manager says with a glare to the green eyed sub, who blushes in embarrassment and looks at the floor.

They start singing _what makes you beautiful_ , and Harry comes in late several times, sings off key in his chorus, and out of time in his solo towards the end.

He just can't focus, now when his mind is being _so_ fucking loud. Was Niall telling the truth just then? Or was he just saying it so his day could be easier just like the 5sos Subs said? How was he supposed to know anymore? 

And why was Louis not there when he woke up? Why was it always Niall today that was there when he wanted Louis the most?

What if he didn't even get his collar today? Was he really that bad at being a sub that he couldn't even earn a simple day collar? He'd never get a real collar if this went on!

Although, you probably had to have a Dom who actually wanted to be your Dom to get an actual collar.

Harry had dreamt about it so many times, the possibility that one day Louis would buckle some form of leather around his neck, using a key that only Louis had the possession of.

But he'd never get that, and it was time he just started realising that Louis wouldn't ever want him back, not if he was as bad at being a sub as he was. He wasn't living a fairy tale, he couldn't keep kidding himself anymore.

And now he didn't even have any friends, not if they all thought he was boring like Luke and Cal did. And they had made it very clear they didn't want to be friends with him anymore.

 _You have Zayn,_ a little voice in the back of his head told him, _and Liam and Niall, they all like you._

Harry wasn't so sure about Liam and Niall, he felt like he was being a burden to them by making them be his Dom's, but maybe he did still have Zayn.

And Zayn wasn't boring, screw what Luke and Cal said! Harry likes Zayn, and he should've stuck up for him!

What if Zayn finds out Harry didn't, and then Zayn doesn't want to be friends with him anyways? What if Zayn finds Harry to young and immature?

 _Shut up! Shut up shut up shut up! We like Zayn, and Zayn likes us. We have to apologize to him, stop being so selfish, Harry. Go and say sorry!,_ the little voice in his head says again.

"Harry! What the hell is wrong with you today! Pay attention!"

Harry's head snaps up to see their tour manager glaring at him from the front of the stage, with his four band mates look worriedly at him.

"S-sorry," Harry mumbles, hands gripping his mic tightly so his hands wont shake like he knows they want to.

"Can we take a five minute break-" Zayn starts.

"Absolutely not. You don't show up late and then ask to take breaks when you can't sing, you all need to grow up and start putting in more effort. Harry, if you fuck up one more time I'm giving your solo's to Liam. From the beginning _again_ ," the tour manager says angrily.

"But-" Zayn tries again.

" _Now_. No more fucking questions."

The intro for _what makes you beautiful_ starts again, but no-one comes in when they're supposed to. 

Their manager rolls his eyes and cuts it, glaring at them with his hands on his hips. "What the fuck is your problem?"

"Zayn asked to take a break. We're taking a break," Louis says icily, hands on hips as well.

"And I said no."

"Tough shit. Anyways, I need to talk to my Sub, so I'm calling an emergency break, which we're all allowed to do as stated in our contract. We'll be back in five minutes," Louis says sternly, gripping Harry's wrist and pulling him along before turning to the other three. "You lot need to come as well."

Liam glares once more at their manager before turning on his heel and gripping Zayn's wrist tightly, following Louis and Harry back stage, Niall right behind.

Harry's a little nervous at what Louis' about to say, especially as he's not making their day easy so he's probably gonna be in trouble, even though he hasn't really done anything wrong. But really he's still on cloud nine from when Louis called him his Sub.

How could he not be happy from that?

The Dom in question pulls him round to their dressing room, letting go of his wrist and allowing the three other boys in before shutting and locking the door.

As soon as the doors shut he leans against it for a few seconds, taking a few deep breaths before turning back around.

"Harry, do you want to tell us all what's on your mind at the moment?" he finally asks, turning round to look him in the eye.

Harry can't tell if Louis' annoyed or not. He sounds tired and irritated, but it's not necessarily directed at him.

Still, he's making everything difficult. He always makes things difficult.

"I'm sorry," he says quietly, twiddling his fingers and looking at the floor.

"Right new rule, you give us eye contact when we are talking to you unless you've been told anything different. Agreed?" Louis asks sternly, Liam and Niall nodding.

"It's disrespectful, Harry. Louis' right, when you're spoken too, you must look at us. Are we on the floor?" Liam asks harshly.

"No, Sir. Sorry," Harry says quietly, looking up to three Dom's this time.

"Good boy. Now, answer my question, what's on your mind," Louis says again.

Harry whimpers this time and looks into Louis' blue eyes. "I don't know what you want me to say!" he cries.

Louis frowns and takes a step closer to Harry. "Hazza, there's no right or wrong answer. Just talk to me, sweetheart, what's wrong?"

Harry's eyes fill up with tears, but he blinks them away, not wanting to look weak or pathetic. "I'm fine, I promise. Nothings wrong."

Louis raises an eyebrow. "Are you lying to me now? Cause you know what happens to you when you lie, Harry."

The sub whimpers again. "I get punished, I know. I don't want to be punished again," he whines, looking desperately at Louis.

"You won't be, if you answer my question. I don't want to have to ask you again, Harry. What is wrong with you today?" Louis asks sternly, patience wearing thin.

Harry's wide eyes dart between his four band mates in front of him.

Liam's giving him a harsh glare, Louis looking slightly more concerned and yet at the same time a lot colder, Niall's giving him an unreadable look and Zayn, well, Zayn looks worried. Which is kind of the worst of all of them.

Because Harry hasn't been a good friend to Zayn, and yet Zayn is still being kind to him.

"Well, I don't see why my problems always have to be broadcast to everyone. It's not fair!" Harry cries.

"Ey, you don't shout at us, Harry Edward. Do not raise your voice again unless you want me to bend you over my lap right now. You're really pushing my buttons, little boy," Louis warns, voice low and quiet, contrasting to Harry's loud and shrill voice.

"I don't care! Zayn isn't even my Dom, scrap that, Zayn's not a Dom, period. I don't want him here listening in on what's supposed to be private!" Harry protests, instantly regretting it when he sees Zayn's hurt look, quickly hidden beneath a look of anger.

"The fuck, Harry? You're not really in a position to judge someone on not being a Dom, are you? You couldn't even successfully convince everyone you were a Dom," Zayn bites out, arms crossed protectively across his chest.

"Alright Zayn, that's enough. Wait for me outside, please," Liam says softly but sternly to his sub.

"But-"

"I didn't ask for any objections. Outside. Now!" Liam repeats, pointing to the door.

Harry feels awful as he see's Zayn nod slightly and walk towards the door, his hand reaching up to wipe at his cheek, which Harry really hopes isn't a tear.

As soon as they all hear the door click shut the three Dom's turn back to look at Harry.

"Now you've upset Zayn, you can tell us what's the matter with you. It better be good, Harry," Niall says harshly, which throws Harry off because Niall is usually the most laid back out of all of them.

"I'm sorry! Didn't want to upset Zayn. I didn't mean it," Harry protests quietly, "I just don't like it that everyone has to be here when I'm talking about private things. I'm not there when Liam and Zayn have private conversations. Its hard enough with you three here."

"Harry, you do understand that my relationship with Zayn is completely different to the situation with the four us, yes? Zayn's not only my Sub, but also my boyfriend. It wouldn't be appropriate for you to be there when we are talking. And you should also know that Zayn will find out one way or another, we don't keep secrets from each other," Liam says pointedly, "Now stop trying to change the subject. Talk to us."

Harry fiddles with the hem of his shirt, a nervous (or even anxious?) trait of his that he's discovered over the last few weeks. 

He didn't want to tell the Dom's what was wrong. What if they didn't even find it important? He's bigged it up so much now that they're probably expecting some massive problem, and yet Harry's just being selfish.

His problem isn't that bad. He can deal with it by himself. He shouldn't have bothered the boys with it.

"Harry? Is this about Luke and Ashton?" Niall calls out softly, stepping closer to the Sub.

Harry's eyes shoot up and meet Niall's blue ones understandingly, the sub nodding slightly.

"What the hell happened with Luke and Ashton?" Louis asks demandingly.

Niall sighs and turns to face Liam and Louis. "When Haz went missing earlier, I found him talking with Luke and Ash. As we were making our way back to sound check, he asked me if we give him rules just to make our days easier, or if it was for his safety. I'm guessing that's not all you talked about?"

Harry shakes his head. "We, um, th-they also said that Zayn was boring and, uh, and was too mature cause he's older than us. And I didn't defend him, and I've felt really guilty since! I really really feel bad, I swear! Because Zayn's been _so_ nice to me since I've come out to you guys, and then I didn't stick up for him! And then it got me thinking. Because all I know about being a sub is what you guys have told me. I never studied it in school because I left before they did. And what if you guys are just manipulating what you tell me to make your life easy? What with Louis being my legal guardian aswell, I don't really have anyone else to go to. It's not that I don't love you guys, I just suddenly didn't know what to believe anymore!" he rambles.

"Haz-"

"And then because I was stressed and anxious my mind just started running wild. Out of control. I was suddenly worrying about you guys not liking me cause I'm a burden to you, Zayn not liking me cause I'm young and immature! Luke and Ashton not liking me cause I'm too serious! Never getting a Dom cause I'm too bad of a sub! And then I was jealous, because Zayn and Luke and Ash all have collars. They're all allowed to publicly be a Sub, and I'm not! What if that means I'm not good as a Sub, because I'm not marketable, and if I'm not marketable I can't be good as a sub, right? And I'm just so tired of trying my hardest to do what other people want me to do that I don't even know what _I_ want to do anymore! Trying to be a Dom for management, trying to be fun for Luke and Ash, trying to be happy and okay for my mum, trying to be well behaved for you guys, trying to be less annoying for Zayn. I don't even know who I'm supposed to be anymore!" The sub finishes with a cry as be sinks to the floor, rocking back and forth with his arms wrapped around his knees, thick tears rolling down his face.

Louis feels his chest ache seeing Harry in this state. He steps closer to the sub and kneels down in front of him, wrapping him up in his arms. "Shh, don't cry sweetheart. Everything's going to be fine. Calm down for me baby."

Harry buries his face in Louis' neck, arms wrapped tightly on top of Louis' shoulders as he tries his hardest to calm down. "I-I'm sorry-"

"Shh. You don't need to apologize, Hazzabear. Just try to calm down for me, babe. Then we can talk more, yeah?" Louis says calmly, rubbing the younger boy's lower back comfortingly, just the way he knows Harry likes it.

Harry slowly feels his breathing slow down, his eyes feeling heavy as he slowly shuts them, sleep seeming an easier option than dealing with all this shit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so so so sorry I've been gone for so long. I'm hopefully going to be writing quicker updates now.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's still reading this, I know it's rubbish when people stop updating a fic, and know that I'm not finished with this AT ALL. Im definitely going to be regularly updating again, promise.
> 
> I hope your all having a good summer, the weather in the UK right now is so hot, make sure you all enjoy it to the max!!
> 
> Let me know what you thought of this chapter, it was originally just going to be a cute chapter where Harry gets his collar, but instead this came out.
> 
> I also promise that Harry will stop getting so upset all the time soon, it's just to show that he's emotional after so long of being neglected and all that.
> 
> I'm so sorry again for not updating, I feel so bad.
> 
> Thanks for reading xxx
> 
> (Also I'm 17 now ewww)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy xx

"Well I guess none of us saw that coming, huh?" Niall says quietly.

Louis shakes his head, pulling Harry up into his arms and sitting down in the little sofa they had, the Sub subconsciously curling up to him and resting his head on Louis' shoulder.

The Dom looks down to the boy in his lap. Louis' always known Harry was beautiful, everyone did, but right now Louis was actually feeling a little emotional at how gorgeous he was.

His nose was slightly scrunched up, the way it did when he was trying to hide something or when he was stressed, and all Louis wanted to do was boop him. (Even if it broke his hard strict Dom exterior)

And that was probably the most special thing about Harry. Louis really didn't care what other people thought about him or what he did so long as Harry was happy. Because Harry deserved more than anything to be happy.

"Lou?" someone says from afar.

Harry whines a little, a small frown on his face as he nuzzles closer to Louis. 

The older boy holds Harry tighter and presses a small kiss to his hair, shushing him gently.

"Louis!" Niall whispers harshly.

Louis looks up to Niall slowly. "Yes?"

The blonde Dom rolls his eyes. "I just called your name like five times but you just kept staring at Harry with a stupid smile on your face. Can you listen now?"

Louis frowns. "I wasn't staring at him with a "stupid smile", okay? What's up?"

"We're trying to talk about Harry. What should we do?" Liam asks tiredly.

"Um, I can talk to him, I don't think he's gonna be asleep for long. You should go and see Zayn if you want, I know you want to," Louis says softly.

"It's fine, I'm Harry's Dom too-"

"But Harry doesn't need you like Zayn needs you right now. Seriously, go. Me and Niall have got this, promise," Louis pushes, stroking Harry's hair when he grumbles again.

Liam bites his lip and looks at the closed door, eyes showing his stress. "Um, okay. But call me if you need anything, okay?"

"Sure. Go make sure Zayn's okay," Niall says, closing the door behind Liam when he all but runs out of the door. "So when are you going to tell him?"

Louis frowns. "Hm?"

"Harry. We all know you like him, Lou. And Haz clearly likes you too. It's not healthy to keep him in the dark about it," Niall says honestly as he walks over to the boys on the couch.

"He's still learning, Ni. It's not fair to push all of that suddenly on to him. And he's not even 18 yet, he's probably not ready to settle down. And-"

"Can you stop making up excuses? You sound like fucking management, just because Harry's young doesn't mean he's not capable of everything else. Stop trying to run away from your feelings, Lou," Niall says softly.

"I'm not! I just don't think it's an appropriate time to tell Harry how I feel, okay? He's stressed out enough at the moment, as we clearly just found out. I don't want to add to that," Louis defends, adjusting Harry on his lap slightly with a frown.

"How is that going to stress him out more? You don't think that him thinking he's not good enough for you because he doesn't think you like him is stressing him out? It's okay to like him, Lou. There's nothing wrong with it."

Louis looks down at the boy on his lap again. He hadn't even realised he was doing it, but Niall was right. He was running away from his feelings.

It's just, Harry is so perfect, and he deserves the best. Always. What if Harry is better of with someone else?

"Lou, just because you're a Dom and the oldest one, it doesn't mean you have to act all tough and superior all the time. It's okay to have doubts, it's okay to be scared. This fucked up stereotype that all Dom's have to be strong, mentally and physically, and always be okay isn't right. All you know for sure right now is you like Harry and Harry likes you. And that's enough for right now," Niall explains, moving Harry's hair out of his face when whines.

Louis ponders. Maybe Niall is right? He's so endeared by Harry, and that's enough. Because what use is there in over thinking everything?

"Mmm. Lou?" Harry whines, shifting uncomfortably and squinting one eye open to look up at Louis with a look of confusion.

"Hey, sweetheart. You gonna wake up for us now?" Louis says softly, loosening his grip to allow the Sub to wriggle and sit more upright on his lap.

"How long?" Harry mumbles, rubbing his eye with his fist as he yawns.

"You're so cute, Haz," Louis whispers under his breath, "You've been asleep for ten minutes? Not long, babe."

Harry blushes and hides his face in Louis' neck. "I'm sorry for, um, for earlier."

"Hey, don't apologize for that. We're really proud of you for telling us how you felt, Hazza. Even if you did wait a bit too long. But we know how big of a deal it can be to tell us what's on your mind, and you're a really good boy for doing so. How are you feeling now?" Louis says as he runs his fingers through the subs hair.

"Um, better I guess, because I told you so I don't feel so guilty or stressed. But everything I did say still stands. Can I go see Zayn? Is he okay?" Harry says suddenly, shifting in Louis' lap to look for his friend.

Niall walks over and sits down next to Louis, placing his hand on Harry's back to settle him. "Zayn's talking to Liam, pet. We can talk to him later if he's up for it, yeah?"

Harry slumps in Louis' hold and stops wriggling. "Okay..." he says in a small voice.

"Look, Hazza, Zayn is probably going to be upset with you, and he might not want to talk to you straight away, but at some point he will and then apologize and explain everything to him and you'll be good, okay?"

Harry takes a shaky breath in. "Yeah, I guess. Am I going to be punished for it?"

The two Doms look up to each other and share a look, Louis sighing as he looks away. "I'm sorry, sweetheart, but yeah. You will. It won't be too hard, and then it will all be over, but you know you're supposed to come and talk to us when you're not feeling so great, we shouldn't have had to try so hard to get it out of you. Do you understand?"

"Yes Sir," Harry says quietly.

"Good boy. Go and sit facing the corner for ten minutes, don't make any noise unless you need to colour out," Louis says sternly, pointing to the corner as Harry's head snaps up.

"Now?!"

"Yes, now. Don't keep me waiting Harold," Louis says harshly.

"B-But-"

"Now! I don't want to have to ask you again, Harry. You're really not in a position to be talking back to me, are you?"

"I-"

"Are you!" Louis repeats, gripping Harry's chin tightly to keep eye contact with him.

"No, Sir. Sorry," Harry says defeatedly, pushing himself off of Louis and walking over to the corner, quickly dropping to his knees and hanging his head.

-

"I don't know!" Harry whines, tugging at his hair in frustration.

He, Louis and Niall were at a shop trying to pick something out for Zayn to make up for being rude earlier.

Well, Harry was.

Louis and Niall weren't being very helpful at the moment.

"Hazza, just pick, sweetheart. We don't have very long, and the concert is starting soon," Louis reprimands softly, carefully pulling Harry's hands out of his hair. "And don't whine, we know better than that."

Harry holds in a sigh, eyes scanning back over the shelves. "But I want it to be perfect for him. I don't want him to still be sad, and he's done so much for me recently. I don't want him to feel like I don't appreciate it."

Louis feels his heart grow a little with fondness as he walks up to Harry and hugs his waist from behind. "Okay, well, why dont you get him something arty. He's been getting more into spray painting recently?"

Harry ignores the butterflies he feels from being in such close contact with the Dom. "S-Sure. I think they were at the back of the store."

They all walk over, Harry picking out a few colours in the best quality, before handing them to Louis for approval.

The Dom hides a fond smirk, holding the cans and nodding. "They look good. Let's go and pay, and then we can pick up some dinner on the way back, yeah?"

Harry nods, walking along happily to the till, glad he's made a good choice with Zayn's gift.

They get called up to the till, and Harry observes the friendly looking guy, quite tall and broad with a few tattoos.

"Hey there, anything else I can for you guys?" he says cheerily, scanning the items through.

Harry misses the hungry gaze from the Dom as he's too busy getting his card from his pocket, but Louis tenses and gives him a hard stare.

"No, we've got everything, thank you," Louis says coldly, making Harry look at him worriedly.

He keeps his mouth closed, quickly paying and shoving his card back into his back pocket. "Um, could we get a bag too, please?"

"Of course you can, cutie. It's normally a five cent charge, but I'll let you have it for free," he says, eying Harry up and down.

The Sub blushes, smiling and taking the bag, quickly putting the items in. "Uh, thank you-"

"Yes, thank you," Louis interjects, grabbing the bag and in one hand and Harry's in the other, pulling the boy away without a goodbye, Niall cackling behind.

Harry frowns, stumbling to keep up with Louis' hasty exit. "Lou? Are you okay?"

"Fucking peachy. C'mon, let's get outta here. What do you want for dinner?" Louis asks, not looking at Harry, as he all but drags him over to the car.

"U-Uh, you can pick. Did I do something wrong?" Harry asks hesitantly as Louis unlocks the car, throwing the items in the boot.

The Dom's head snaps up to the younger boy's, hearing the slight fear in his voice. "Of course not. Why?"

Niall laughs harder. "You two are ridiculous. Hazza, Louis just didn't like that man flirting with you, that's all. Now c'mon, I wanna get taco bell!"

Harry blushes. "W-what? I don't think, um, I don't think that man was flirting with me?"

Louis rolls his eyes. "Firstly, yes he was. He called you cutie, he looked you up and down way too many times and he gave you a free bag. Secondly, I'm not jealous, Niall stop laughing. Let's just go."

"Shot gun!" Niall calls, ruffling Harry's hair when he pouts.

"No, Harry can sit up front. You lost shot gun privileges, Neil," Louis says grumpily, shutting the boot and walking over to the passenger side.

Harry smiles happily, walking past an affronted Niall, and happily climbing into the seat, letting Louis do his seatbelt up for him.

"I hate you both, you know that," Niall grumbles from the back as Louis starts the engine, pulling out and driving towards the nearest Taco bell.

"I'm giving you free food, you hate us for long," Louis teases, smiling proudly when Harry barks out a laugh.

-

"C'mon, he's really sorry, Li. You know Harry never wanted to upset him, just let him have a word with him. He feels awful," Louis pleads with Liam, the younger Dom standing upright with a scowl on his face, arms crossed in front of his chest.

"And who's to say he won't upset him again. Zayn was in pieces when I finally found him, I don't want Harry upsetting him again," Liam argues back, making Louis roll his eyes.

"Look, Harry knows if he says anything like that again, I'll whip his ass so hard he won't be able to sit for a month, okay? I promise you, he just wants to apologize. It's _Harry_ , you know how much he hates arguing," Louis persuades.

Liam lets out a heavy sigh. "Fine, but I swear to god, the second it's goes wrong, he's out and I get to administer his punishment, deal?"

"So long as Harry's green, deal," Louis says.

Liam sighs again, opening the door he was previously guarding and calling out to his Sub. "Z, someone wants to see you. You up for it?"

"If its Harry tell him to go fuck himself," Zayn calls out, voice muffled where he was lying face down on a couch in his dressing room.

"Pup c'mon, give him a chance, yeah?"

"I have Taco's!" Harry calls through, trying to push away the disappointment he felt when Zayn rejected himself.

The two hear a little more discussion before Liam comes back to the door. "Five minutes, and I'm going to be outside this whole time. Do not mess this up, Harry."

Harry nods gratefully, pushing past Liam and shooting Louis a worried look before opening the door and walking towards his best friend.

"Zaynie, I'm really sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset," Harry says quietly, wincing when Zayn laughs harshly, sitting up and facing the younger boy.

Harry takes in his appearance, guilt eating him up when he sees tear tracks all down his face.

"Whatever. What do you want?" Zayn says emotionlessly.

"To tell you I'm sorry, really really sorry. You know I didn't mean what I said, I tell you everything anyways, so it wasn't you that was the problem. It was just everything else," Harry tries to explain, quickly losing his confidence and wishing he and Louis here with him to help.

Zayn sighs. "Okay. I don't care, if that's everything you can just leave."

"I-I also brought you something," Harry says tentatively, holding up the shopping bag.

Zayn rolls his eyes and takes it, looking the bag and observing the spray cans. "Cool. Thank you."

Harry doesn't think he sounds very appreciative. "Uhm, we also g-got some, um, food for you. Tacos?"

"Not hungry. Just give it to Li, I'll eat later," Zayn says flatly, making a move to turn away from Harry again.

"No! Don't ignore me, please! I really am sorry, Z. I don't know how else to make it up you," Harry whispers, hand on Zayn's arm.

"I don't know what you want me to say, Haz. I'm not important enough to know your business, so why should I be here to talk to you now, when you see fit?" 

The curly haired boy just looks down to the floor, playing with the bag as he wills himself not to cry or be defeated.

"I, um, I think that one of my defense mechanisms is pushing people away when I feel like I've betrayed them. Paul was telling me stuff about neglected subs, and when they feel like they've done something wrong or upset someone, they do something else to push them away. Kind of to protect themselves and the other person. I'm not a neglected sub, but I think maybe that's what I was doing? I know it's a shitty excuse, and I understand if you don't accept it, but please know that I'm really sorry, and I don't want you to be sad anymore," Harry says honestly, trying to keep a calm voice.

"Damn it, you're too cute to be mad at. Come here," Zayn says, making grabby hands at Harry. 

Harry sags in relief and jumps onto Zayn's lap, hugging him tightly as he buries his face in his neck.

"I'm so sorry, I really didn't mean it," he whispers, Zayn hugging him back tighter in response.

"It's okay, I accept your apology. And thank you, seriously, thank you for the spray cans. They're really thoughtful Haz, I'm very appreciative of them," Zayn says honestly, "Now give me my tacos, I'm hungry!"

-

"You nervous?" Louis asks softly, helping Harry with his ear pieces as Harry stands perfectly still for him.

"A little. This is the biggest concert we've ever had. I think I'm excited for it more than anything," Harry says quietly, smiling up at Louis when his ear pieces are hanging around his neck, all wired up correct. "Thank you."

Louis smiles fondly. "No problem, darling. You're being very polite recently, keep it up."

Harry blushes a little, nodding in agreement.

"I've got something to give you. I was planning on giving it to you earlier, but someone wanted to take a nap with Zayn. You want it now or tomorrow?" Louis asks, placing Harry's curls back in the right way.

Harry's heart flutters in excitement. _Is this finally going to be his stand in collar?_

"Um, would it be okay to have it now?" Harry asks politely, making Louis smile again.

"Of course, Haz. C'mon, it's in my bag," the Dom says, holding his hand out for Harry to take, the sub accepting happily.

Louis walks them over to their shared dressing room, sitting him up on the table before digging through his bag and holding out a gift wrapped in tissue paper to the sub.

"So, I know I told you if you behaved perfectly for a week, we'd get you a collar. Not a normal one, because obviously that would cause some issues, but a stand in one. This is from me, Niall and Liam, but I didn't want to overwhelm you too much, so I'm just going to give it to you now, yeah? And if you don't like it, or it's not what you wanted, we can get you something else, okay?" Louis explains, resting a hand on Harry's thigh to try and keep the sub calm.

_Holy shit this is it, this is it, holy shit, don't mess this up, Styles_

Harry nods, to scared to talk in case he bursts into tears.

He was potentially about to receive his first ever collar!!

This was huge for him, and the fact it was coming from Louis was even better.

"Okay, so this is what I'm hoping will be your main one, but there's a few others too, and if you prefer those they can be your main one. You will not be able to remove the collar by yourself or without permission, that will be left to myself, Niall and Liam. If you misbehave, we have the authorization to take the collar from you for a certain amount of time. If you continue to be a good boy, and follow all of your rules, we can look into getting you a more official collar for private use, i.e not in public, okay?" Louis explains clearly, still holding the parcel.

Harry nods again. "Okay."

Louis smiles, proud of Harry for remembering to be verbal and also for maintaining eye contact with him. "Good boy. Okay, here you go."

Harry's heart starts pumping with anticipation as Louis passes him the gift. With shaky hands, he carefully rips the tissue paper open, gasping at what be sees inside.

"It's a blue bandana, like..."

"Like the bandana project, yeah. I've got you blue, for me, but there's also a black one, if you wanted something more neutral, or a tie dye one of all our colours if you wanted something more inclusive," Louis says, showing Harry the other colours.

The sub shakes his head, a tear slipping down his face, much to his embarrassment. "It's perfect."

Louis holds back his urge to scream in happiness, instead opting to wipe Harry's tear with the pad of his thumb. "And look at the corner, it's embroidered with blue thread to say: Harry Edward Styles, Property of Dominant L. Tomlinson, L. Payne and N. Horan, so when you're wearing it it won't be visible, but you're gonna know it's there, and so will myself and the boys."

Harry wraps his arms around Louis' shoulders, spreading his thighs so the Dom can step in-between and come a little closer as they share an intimate hug. "Thank you," Harry whispers.

"You don't need to thank me, sweetheart. You've earned this, you deserve it. Now you just have to prove you can continue to be obedient, yes?" Louis says, softly and then more sternly at the end, making Harry giggle.

"Yes Sir."

"Good boy. I'm going to put it on you know, okay?"

Harry nods, ducking his head and holding up his curls, hands only shaking a little, as Louis folds the bandana and places it carefully around his neck tying it together at the front.

As soon as it's on, Harry immediately feels ten times more submissive. His head clears a little and feels an urge to please Louis in whatever way he can.

"There we go, perfect. Right, let's go and join the boys, I think we should be about to go on. Do you need anything before we go?" Louis asks, forcing himself to keep an even voice when his head is going crazy seeing Harry wearing Louis' collar.

Louis is sure he'll die when he sees Harry in a leather collar.

"Some water, please," Harry says quietly, head bowed down as a sign of respect.

Louis knows one of his rules is to keep eye contact, but he also knows right now Harry is doing it to be respectful, so he'll let it go.

He grabs his water bottle, unscrewing the lid and holding it to Harry's lips as the Sub takes a careful sip, spilling a little down his chin.

"Oop, careful, sweetie," Louis says, pulling the bottle away and wiping Harry's chin with his sleeve.

"Thank you," Harry says quietly again, so quiet it's almost a whisper.

Louis' heart grows even more seeing Harry's response the the collar.

"Good boy. Let's go and joint the other boys now, yeah?" Louis says softly, holding his hand out for Harry again, his hand encasing Harry's soft one as they walk back to their main dressing room.

For the rest of the night and concert, Harry is a little quiet and clingy, sticking to one of the boy's side the whole time, and asking Louis for things like water all the time instead of getting it himself. Like he's asking for permission for every little thing.

Louis finds it very endearing, and makes sure Harry is comfortable throughout the concert, but as they're leaving, Harry in Louis' arms as he finds sleep, Louis doesn't miss the warning glare from his manager.

And heck if that doesn't scare Louis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry, I was reading the last chapter and in the author notes I was saying about how nice the weather was, and if that isn't the biggest indicator of how long I've been away. Oops.
> 
> Sorryyyy. I know most people have given up hope on this fic, but I really appreciate you reading it and persevering.
> 
> Also I have to wake up for work in four and a half hours, so I'm going to go. Sorry for the short author note.
> 
> Let me know what you think xxx


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy, this one's a bit of an emotional rollercoaster

"This, Mr Styles, is Eleanor Calder, 21, Submissive, born and raised in Yorkshire."

"She's really pretty," Harry whispers as a picture is pushed towards him across the table.

The girl, woman, is perfect, in Harry's opinion. She has long, curly hair, similar to his but way better styled. Her nose is small, unlike his own, and her whole demeanor is small, as a Sub should be, suggesting to Harry that she's fairly short.

"Yes, she is, isn't she? The perfect description of a perfect Sub, don't you think?"

Harry nods, unable to take his eyes off of her.

"Now, it's clearly apparent that you've decided it unnecessary to follow your contract recently, and what's done unfortunately cannot be undone, however this behaviour of yours need to stop."

Swallowing the lump in his throat, Harry slides his shaking hands quickly underneath his thighs in a weak attempt to hide his fear. He is the only omega in the room, 10 alphas facing him from the table.

He shouldn't be here, he snuck of this morning without telling Louis, his phone having woken him up with a ring only for Harry to be told to make his way down to the offices for a meeting. He'd been told strictly not to tell anyone.

But what was he supposed to do? If he told his Dom's that he was going for a meeting, management would be pissed. If he didn't tell them, they'd be pissed.

And honestly, Harry was so terrified of management that he'd take a spanking any day from his band mates. He just really didn't want to disappoint Louis.

He was praying he'd make it back to the bus before any of them woke up.

"I, um, I don't understand what this has to do with the girl," Harry says tentatively, eyes back to his lap.

"Well, we were thinking. Louis' getting on a bit now, isn't he? 22? It would look wrong if he didn't start settling down with a perfect little Sub soon, don't you think?"

Harry's eyes shot up to Simon's, who was sitting at the middle of the group. 

He should've know, should've known this meeting was bad news. Simon _never_ came to meetings anymore, they were lucky if they got him on a Skype call.

"No..." he whispered fearfully, heart beat rising rapidly. "No, please, Simon you promised! Y-you can't do this, not to Lou! Please, I'll do anything! Don't bring him into this!"

Simon smirked at him, making Harry gulp in fear. "Amusing, you seem to believe that you are entitled to speak to a group of Dom's like that. It would have been almost acceptable I suppose, if you were still telling everyone you were a Dom, but no. Slutty Harry Styles had to go blabbing to his little band mates and now he's gone and got himself not one, not two, but _three_ fucking Dom's!" 

Harry flinches as Simon's smirk disappeared throughout his speech before he stood up and slammed his hands down on the table.

"How dare you talk to us like that! You have no right speaking to Dominants in that way! No wonder you need three Dom's, one could never handle you, could they? Not only is the little shit slutty, he's fucking disobedient too! You will never tell another Dominant in this room no again. Do you understand?!" Simon shouted, making Harry cower and nod his head rapidly.

"I said, do you understand!" Simon roared, tears now falling down Harry's face.

"Yes, sir. I understand," Harry says quickly, the feeling of fear rising even as Simon sits down.

"From now on, you will continue as you did before. You are a Dom, and as such you will act. You do not answer to the boys as your Dom's, you will do as your contract states, you will continue going out to clubs at night and hooking up with the paid for actress waiting for you at said club. You are a man whore, and as such you will act. You have three strikes, Styles. Three strikes, and Eleanor will be Louis' official Sub before you know it. Any objections?" Simon asks coldly.

"No, sir."

"Good boy. Take that fucking bandana off your neck and give it to me."

Harry's eyes snap up again. "But-"

"Now!"

Harry's hands fly up to his neck and quickly start undoing the knot Louis had tied the day before. Tears leaked down his face as he passes his precious gift, his precious gift that he'd only had around his neck for a singular week into the calloused hands of the man who essentially owned him.

"Every payment you wish to me made will from now on be passed by myself, and if I think it's inappropriate it won't be accepted. If you wish to go anywhere outside of work you will be accompanied by John, and you will no longer be allowed to share a room with one of the boys, the singular will always be yours. I mean this now Harry, you make one tiny mistake, and that will be a strike. Count yourself very fortunate you are given the luxury of three strikes. This meeting is now over, John will take you back to the bus."

"Um, sir?"

"What now?"

"What exactly am I supposed to tell Louis, and the others?" Harry asks in a small voice.

"Do I look like a give a fuck? You tell them whatever you need to let them know loud and clear you don't want them as your Dom's anymore. I'm sure you can figure that out. Now leave," Simon orders.

Harry silently stands up, feeling off edge from not having his bandana tied around his neck, and follows John out to the car.

_Don't cry don't cry don't cry don't cry_

He doesn't want to give them the satisfaction of crying again. He is stronger that that. He has to be.

-

Louis groans as he starts to feel himself come to life, frowning when he doesn't feel Harry tucked against his chest and reaches over to the other side of the bed. "Haz?"

The Dom finds it a little concerning when he's met with a cold, empty bed, but having just woken up can't find it in him to figure out what's wrong. "Hazza?"

"Lou shut the fuck up!" comes a certain Bradford accent from above him, followed by a little shriek.

"Don't be rude, Z."

"I was sleeping!" Louis hears Zayn protest, smirking when he heard a small huff, only imagining Liam's raised eyebrows and "do not argue with me" look.

"Maybe all of you could shut the hell up rather than argue over who was sleeping, or not sleeping in this case!" Niall calls out from across Louis.

"See, no-ones pinching his arse for telling everyone to shut up," Zayn says indignantly, shrieking again as Louis imagines he got another pinch. "Leeyum!"

Liam chucked softly, voice still deep and rough from sleep. "Sorry, pup. That was uncalled for, I know you was just joking."

"I'm serious, shut the fuck up!" Niall calls out again.

Louis reaches out to pull Harry in for a cuddle again before realising his reason for waking up the first time.

A feeling of worry builds up now he's more aware of what's happening and he quickly shoves the blanket off him as he jumps down from the bunk.

"Harry!" He calls louder, checking the bathroom first, realising he's not there, and quickly checking the front of the bus, and finding much of the same. No Harry anywhere.

"Shit," Louis mumbles as he pulls out his to phone yo speed dial his sub.

He swears again when it goes to voicemail, hanging up and heading back to the bunks.

"Li, Niall, get up. Now." He says shortly, quickly pulling back the curtain to Liam and Zayn's bunk, rolling his eyes when he sees Zayn's naked form scramble to get under a cover.

"Louis," Liam says in a calm measure as he pushes the frustration away, "you cannot just open the curtain to our bunk like that, and you have to let us sleep. We do have this thing called privacy, you know."

"Fucks sake, I don't need a Liam lecture right now, okay? Z, calm down I've seen you naked a ton of times." Louis says in irritation as Zayn's head pokes up from the covers with a glare.

"I wasn't expecting it, you dick. What the hell do you want?"

"What I want is to talk to Liam and Niall, like five minutes ago. I'm not arguing with you lot anymore, get the hell up!' Louis says angrily.

"Look, whatever you wanna say, say it in front of Zayn too, okay? Stop leaving him out of things," Liam snaps out, making Zayn freeze as Louis' gaze hardens on his Dom.

"Do you think for one second that maybe there could have been some reason as to why I don't think Zayn would want to here this? But okay then, fine. Harry's fucking missing, can you get the hell out of bed and help me find him?! Or do you care more about your precious fucking sleep now?" Louis spits out, going full 'Tommo way' on the couple.

"What!" All three band members shout, Niall jumping out of bed, Zayn gasping and running to find his phone, Liam carefully approaching Louis as he understands why he'd been such an arsehole this morning.

"Lou, it's okay, we're going to help. I'm sure he's just popped out for two seconds, okay? Calm down," Liam says gently, shoving a jumper on and jumping into joggers.

"Holy shit!" 

The three Dom's whip round to where Zayn had shouted.

"Zayn?" Liam calls out as they all walk further up the bus to see the Sub sitting cross-legged on the floor in only his boxers, eyes trained to the phone.

"My snap maps say he was last seen at the LA Syco offices," Zayn says quietly, looking up in fear at Liam. "Li..."

"How long ago does it say he was there?" Louis asks, voice slightly shaky.

"U-Um, 16 minutes ago," Zayn whispers, pulling up Harry's contact to try and call him, swearing when it goes to voicemail again. "Something's not right."

"Sweetheart try not to get too stressed yeah?" Liam says as he pulls Zayn up for a cuddle, "he's probably just in a meeting and that's why he's not answering his calls, okay? We shouldn't jump to conclusions."

Louis rolls his eyes at Liam. "Next time when I say I need to talk to you, please fucking listen. I didn't want to stress Zayn out, and now we have, and we still don't know where Harry is. Thanks for your help."

Louis storms out and walks up to the bus driver, who'd been sleeping before Louis unceremoniously shook him awake. "Hey, did you see Harry leaving this morning at all?"

The driver rubs his eye and glares at Louis. "No, I was sleeping, it's still 6 I'd suggest you leave me alone and let me sleep a bit more if you want to be driven to the next state tonight, yeah?"

He then mutters under his breath something about self intitled popstars before slumping back in his chair and falling asleep.

If Louis wasn't more concerned he'd definitely have a longer chat with the dick.

Maybe with his first.

As it was he just groaned and headed back to the boys, sensing the tense atmosphere right away. "The fuck is wrong with you lot?"

"Lou-"

Niall is cut off when they all hear the bus doors open, heads whipping up to keep a close eye on the door.

-

Harry was hoping the boys would all still be asleep. It was six in the morning, there was no reason for any of them to be awake.

"Alright, I'm leaving you now. Remember, Styles, no more fuck ups, yeah?" John says sternly, the Sub nodding and heading to the doors of the bus.

He quietly opens the door, wincing when it makes a loud noise, before carefully tiptoeing up the stairs and down the bus.

He can't hear any noise so he thinks he's safe until he opens the door to the living area and his four band mates are all staring at him, Louis' gaze piercing into him the most even as he drops his eyes to the floor.

"Um, hi, I'm just, uh, gonna head to bed, cause it's still early and, um, we have the day off today," Harry says lowly and quietly, fiddling with the edge of his coat as he goes to walk past everyone, sighing when Louis stops him.

"I don't think so. Where on earth have you been at this hour?" the Dom asks inquisitively.

"Not that it's any of your business but I was just getting some fresh air to clear my head a little," Harry says, determined not to make his voice sound shaky or unsure.

"Not any of our business? That's funny because last time I checked myself, Louis and Niall were all-"

"I don't wanna have any Dom's anymore! I-I lied..." Harry blurts out. He'd rehearsed the story over and over in his head the whole way here.

"Haz..." Harry hears Zayn say softly, too scared too look up at him in fear of the potential hurt he might see in Zayn's eyes.

"You lied? About..." Niall prompts, taking lead of the conversation when noone else will.

Harry swears you could cut the tension in the room with a knife.

"About being a Sub. I thought it would be funny, but I took it too far. I just wanted to know what you would all do if I did become a sub. I shouldn't have let it get so far," Harry says flatly.

"So you're saying you're a Dom?" Zayn asks shortly, making Harry flinch a little.

"Y-yeah-"

"Bullshit," Louis says sternly, the first time he's spoken since Harry had broken the news.

The Sub risks looking up to make eye contact with Louis, heart breaking when he sees Louis' cold eyes.

"Louis-!"

"No, Niall, there's no way that's true. Why the hell are you lying to us, to me?"

"I'm not lying!" Harry protests, trying to remind himself he mustn't get upset.

"Harry I'd like to remind you I watched you drop, so did Zayn. I've had a meeting with the management team we know you were just with, and all of them agreed to you being a Sub, so whatever they've told you that you need to tell us, it's not working. I know you are a Sub," Louis says surely, not missing the way Harry pales at the realisation that he knows where the younger boy was just now.

"Fine, I-I am a Sub, I just, I don't wanna be _your_ sub anymore. I didn't wanna hurt your feelings," Harry says quietly, guilt eating him up as he sees Louis step back a little.

"That really is bullshit-"

"Zayn, please..." Harry begs, hoping he'll get the hint and stop messing up his stories. Maybe he should have thought of a more believable story.

Oops.

"Harry, would you like to have a private chat and tell me what's wrong?" Louis says softly, reaching out to touch Harry's arm.

"No!" Harry shouts, flinching back to avoid contact with Louis, knowing as soon as he does he won't be able to keep lying.

_"You will never tell another Dominant in this room no again."_

_"Not only is the little shit slutty, he's fucking disobedient too!"_

_"Remember, Styles, no more fuck ups, yeah?"_

_"This, Mr Styles, is Eleanor Calder, 21"_

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say No. I-I..." Harry stutterer, conflicted in what to do.

He shouldn't lie to Louis, that was a big no no. Not only in terms of his rules, but because Harry genuinely didn't want to disobey or disappoint the Dom, because he actually cared about being good for Louis.

But the most important thing for Harry was making sure Louis was happy, and that meant doing what Simon said to avoid him having a beard.

Louis could never be happy having to hide his identity and faking a relationship for the fans.

How was he supposed to keep both sides happy?

"Harry, I know something's happened. You're not acting like yourself, swee- you're not acting like yourself," Louis says, stumbling over his words as he tries to hide his pet name to Harry. 

The thought alone made Harry's heart ache.

"You can either tell us here and now what happened, if Liam allows it you can go and tell Zayn, you can go and tell me alone, or you can tell someone else like Paul if that makes you more comfortable. What's it going to be?" Louis asks carefully, gauging Harry's reaction.

Harry already felt it easier to think with Louis and his always giving a few options. It helped to stop Harry's mind from running wild.

"Um, I don't, it's not that I don't want to tell you, I just, I _can't_ ," Harry stresses, biting his lower lip anxiously.

"Okay, um, what if we go outside? Away from any, uh, unwanted ears?" Louis whispers, Harry understanding that as code for away from the cameras on the bus that they know management regularly check.

Harry shakes his head. "Not allowed," he whispers, so quietly he's not sure how Louis actually heard.

"Fuck this, okay, everyone in the bathroom," Louis says, leading the way and holding the door open for everyone as they all file in one by one, Harry ending up sitting on top of the toilet seat (lid closed), Liam and Zayn in the small shower, Niall squished in by the sink and Louis with his back pressed against the door as he closes the lock.

"Okay, they don't have cameras in here and I know it's sound proof. Haz, please tell us what happened in that meeting," Louis pleads, the four oldest members of the band holding their breath as they wait for Harry's response.

"Um," Harry starts, eyes glued to the floor despite his rules and fiddling his fingers, "uh, well, my phone rang this morning, saying that I had to come to the offices and that I wasn't allowed to tell anyone. And, um, they said a car was waiting outside for me, so I knew they'd know if I did tell one of you, so, um, that's why I didn't. And then, uh, so I got there and Simon was there along with all the heads of Syco and a few people from my team."

Harry feels his heart start to race a little in fear of doing the one thing management told him not to do.

"Um, and they basically said that, like, you guys can't be my Dom's anymore, and I needed to watch my behaviour in public because, like, things were starting to get a little suspicious. And um, I t-told them no, b-because, because that's what we all agreed on, but, um, they threatened me with something, and uh, I really didn't want that to happen. So, um, I went along with it.

"They said I had to tell you guys I didn't want to be your sub anymore and that I wasn't allowed to answer to you, and um, yeah. They took my bandana away as well," Harry finishes.

"They what!" Liam and Niall shout at the same time, making Harry and Zayn wince slightly at the loud noise.

"Haz, look at me darling. What did they threaten you with, you can tell us," Louis says reassuringly, meeting Harry's eyes.

"I can't," Harry whispers, tears beginning to fall silently down his face as he quickly wipes them away, shaking his head.

He mustn't cry.

"Please, Hazza. It's not your fault, and management aren't going to know you told us. Please just tell me what they said," Louis says, squatting down in front of Harry to wipe away his tears as Harry looks down at the Dom.

"They were going to give you a beard," Harry whispers just for Louis to hear, more tears falling as Louis falters a little. "I can't do that to you."

"No, Harry don't think like that, baby. This isn't your fault, I'm not going to have a beard, okay? I'll have a chat with them," Louis says, although his voice doesn't sounds to sure.

"A beard?!" Liam calls from the shower, having just heard Louis and realising what was happening.

Louis and Harry ignore him, too caught up in their own world. "Louis, they literally own me. I have nothing, _nothing_ , without them. They control every part of my life, they control where I can go, who I can interact with, they control what payments I can make, they control my image to the public. All because I signed a damn contract when I was 15. I should have known better, and so far it's all been fine because it's only ever effected me, but now they're starting to control you as well. I'm so scared."

"Shh, it's alright, babe. It's okay to be scared, but you're wrong about having nothing. You have me, and Zayn and Niall and Liam, and that makes us all so powerful, because we're always going to have each others backs, no matter what, yeah? I'm going to get us out of this mess, okay?" Louis says determinedly, holding Harry's face in his hands to bring his focus completely on the Dom and away from whatever mess was in his head. "We're going to be okay, Haz, _you're_ going to be okay."

Harry shakes his head. " I don't care about me, I just want to make sure you're okay. And the boys."

"You have to start caring about yourself too, Hazza. That way you can start letting other people care about you too, because you deserve it. More than anyone else I know," Louis says softly, wiping more tears away from Harry's face.

"I want my collar back," Harry whispers.

"I know, sweetheart. How about you can wear one of the other coloured ones I got you and I'll try and get the blue one back, and if not I'll get another one, yeah?" Louis says, smiling when Harry nods.

"Okay, thank you."

"That's alright. How about you go and wait outside for me with Zayn whilst I have a quick chat with Liam and Niall, and then I'll find the other bandanas, yeah?" Louis asks, even though it's not really a question, but Harry's in a very sensitive head space.

"Promise you'll come back after?" Harry asks, holding out his pinky finger, making Louis' heart burst with fondness as he does so.

"I promise, Harry. Go on, I'll just be in here if you need me, yeah?" Louis says, opening the door and allowing Zayn and Harry to filter through before shutting it again and sighing loudly.

"Holy mother fucking shit," Niall says slowly, eyes wide in shock.

"You can say that again. I don't, how is this legal? How is it legal that for us to have a private conversation we have to cram into a bathroom? How is it legal that they literally own Harry? He isn't even 18, I'm supposed to be his legal guardian and I can't even protect him properly," Louis says angrily, holding his hands in fists.

Now that Harry (and Zayn) were gone from the room there was no way Louis was going to be able to keep his cool.

"None of this is your fault, Lou. You're only 22 yourself, you can't blame yourself for this. We'll find a way out, we will. We'll talk to some lawyers, but this cannot continue. I know this sounds a little crazy, but I say we take Harry's phone away from him for a little bit. He can use ours as and when he needs, but I don't wanna management controlling him without out knowing again. Today cannot happen again," Liam says strongly, trying to hold his own anger back.

"Absolutely. I'll talk to Harry about and make sure he's okay with that too, but I just don't want management being able to communicate with him like that again. They're manipulative little shits!" Louis swears.

"I know, its, I don't know how they get away with it. We can't be the first people this is happening to," Niall says.

"I don't know mate, they had no problem with Zayn being a Sub. I think it's a Harry thing, which doesn't even make sense, but kinda does too?" Louis says hesitantly.

"No I know what you mean. Harry's different, always had been, they know he's easy to control because he'd do anything to take someone else's pain away. And until we knew about him being a Sub, they always had that aspect of control over him. And now they're probably scared, because let's face it, we don't actually need Syco to be popular. Before we did, but now any label would take us any day. They'd take Harry any day, and they're scared. We're the most successful artist on their label, they'd lose tons if we signed with someone else. It wouldn't benefit them if they had this much control over someone else on their label, so it kinda makes sense why they're doing this to us, to Harry," Liam says, shocking both Louis and Niall with how philosophical he sounded.

"What? I might be stupid but management have been making me control you lot for the last three years, you learn a lot from them in that time," Liam says with a sigh.

"I swear to god as soon as we find a way out of this retched contract I'm out. I'm just so glad I have you boys with me through all of this, I'd go stir crazy if I was by myself," Louis says, laughing when Liam and Niall pull him in for a hug.

"Love you too, Tommo. Now, I'm about to pass out in here and I wanna check on Zayn, so lets get out of here," Liam says, pulling out of the hug and opening the door, Niall also leaving as Louis hears three sets of footsteps vacate the bunk area of the bus.

Louis lets out another sigh before also leaving, smiling softly when he sees Harry bundled up in one of his jumpers and a big fluffy blanket, clearly an attempt at comfort from Zayn, he's cuddly pet Koala you nestled into his arms.

Louis honestly doesn't think he'll ever see a more adorable sight in his whole life. "Hi, sweetie."

Harry looks up with wide eyes, smiling back at Louis.

Louis ruffles his hair before heading to his suitcase, digging around for the other two bandanas he'd brought last week, still struggling to believe how Simon thinks its okay to take another Subs collar off of them.

"Ah, here we go," Louis says, pulling them out and walking over to Harry, "which one do you prefer, black or multicoloured?"

Harry shrugs, pulling the blanket further around his shoulders. "Blue."

Louis chuckles softly. "I don't have another blue one m'fraid, sorry. Pick one of the two, Hazza."

"Um, could I have the black one, please?" Harry asks quietly.

"Of course you can, good manners Haz, good boy," Louis praises, tying the bandana around Harry's neck as biting his cheeks to hide a smirk as Harry blushes.

"Okay, now, me and the boys think it's best if we take your phone for you for a bit. This isn't a punishment of any kind, I need you to understand that, it's to ensure your own safety, okay? You'll be able to transfer you're contacts to out phones, and we'll let everyone know your phone is out of service for a bit, we can just say it's broken, but this is just so we can make sure management won't be trying to contact you and control you anymore, does that make sense?" Louis asks carefully, adjusting Harry's collar slightly as squatting in front of the sub again, hands resting on Harry's thighs.

"Yes, sir. I feel like you got me all these thoughtful gifts and now I messed up so bad I can't even use them though. First the blue bandana and now my phone, I feel awful," Harry admits, trying not to think too hard about the hands on his thighs.

"Hey, I already told you, this isn't your fault, love. This isn't a punishment of any kind, I need you to understand that. I promise you, I'm not offended or hurt by you, okay? I just want to make sure you're as safe as it is possible," Louis explains.

"Okay, thank you. I'm really sorry you've been brought into all this mess," Harry says in a small voice, holding back tears again. "I really don't want you to have a beard."

"Yeah? Why's that?" Louis says quietly, suddenly realising how close their heads were.

"Because you should be allowed to love who you want to love, publicly and privately. And, um, nevermind," Harry dismisses himself, blushing and looking down again at his lap.

Louis guides his head back up with his hand on Harry's chin. "Tell me," he whispers.

Harry's eyes stare faithfully into Louis', deciding fuck it he'll just go for it. "Because I want you to kiss _me_ , not a beard," he whispers back.

Louis' eyes drop to Harry's lips before looking back up. "You don't even know how long I've been waiting to hear that," Louis says with a smirk.

Harry blushes for the umpteenth time that day. "Yeah, well, I bet I've been waiting even longer."

"Oh, really?" Louis bets, breath fanning over Harry's face they were that close, his hand still wrapped around Harry's chin.

"Remember the pee incident? Oops?"

"Hi," Louis retaliates, smirk widening.

"Yeah well, I actually said oops before you said hi, so, I win," Harry says stubbornly, making Louis laugh as he pulls back before pushing Harry back against the bed so he's lying down with Louis hovering over him, knocking any sasiness out if the Sub and turning him into a shy blushing mess.

"Just kiss me, you fool," Louis says softly, before leaning down and finally pressing his lips to Harry's plump ones.

Sure, they may have no idea what's going to happen next, but they have each other, and for now, that's more than enough.

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So........it finally happened!!!
> 
> I wasn't planning on them kissing so soon, but fuck it there's been too many sad emotions for me to to handle to I balanced it out.
> 
> Again, I thank you all if you're still reading this, I'm the slowest updater ever, I know, I'm rubbish, sorry.
> 
> Please, please let me know what you thought, what you liked what to didn't like, what you'd like to see next.
> 
> I also kinda wanna write another one shot to my tied up like two strings series, so if you have any prompts or suggestions or anything you wanna see there, let me know I'm the comments.
> 
> Finally, the user ItIsWhatItIs9194 just updated a new story that was very kindly gifted to me, and I know you'll all love it because it's a BDSM au like this, and theirs is way better than the trash I write. You can find it (I wish I could put a link here but I'm not that technologically advanced so nevermind) on my page under gifts, or searching their username. 
> 
> Thank you all very much for reading, I'm sure I'll see you all before Christmas (fingers crossed) and I hope you're all doing really well xxxx


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Enjoy

Louis grips Harry's hip as he goes to deepen the kiss, groaning and pulling away when he hears a phone ringing.

"Fuck, is that yours or mine?" He asks gruffly, wiping his lips with the back of his hand as he tries to focus his brain away from how badly he wants to keep kissing Harry.

"Um, s'mine. Can you, I don't wanna answer it," Harry says quietly, sitting up and passing the phone to Louis.

"Why, who is- oh. Fuck, okay, I'm just going to hang up, I really don't wanna deal with them right now," Louis says, declining the call from management and silencing Harry's phone before throwing it across the next bunk. 

Harry sniffles quietly, willing his face colour to return to its normal tanned colour as his heart rate continues to beat out of control.

"Hey, you alright?" Louis asks softly, stroking a curl behind Harry's ear as Harry nods, curling up into Louis' side.

The Dom smiles softly before pulling the Sub completely into his lap, allowing Harry to tuck his head underneath Louis' head and hide his face.

"You have no idea how many nights I spent wishing I could hold you like this," Louis says honestly, rocking Harry lightly side to side.

"Me too," comes Harry's muffled response, making Louis chuckle.

"When you Zayn told me you was dropping, and therefore that you was a sub, it was like time froze. Partly because I was terrified that you was dropping and I didn't know how to stop it, but also because it felt like a dream come true. All that time I spent wishing upon every star that you could be a Sub, or even that you'd tell me you liked me, it suddenly came a reality. It's still so surreal to me now. I can't imagine going back to how things used to be, not waking up with you in my arms, not getting to check up on you and make sure you're okay, not getting to cuddle with you. It's just become a part of life for me," Louis says with a smile, making Harry's eyes gloss over with happy tears.

"You make me feel safe, Lou. Even when I'm being controlled and threatened by Syco left right and center I still manage to feel like everything will be okay if I'm with you. I still can't believe I just kissed you," Harry says tentatively, relishing in the touch from Louis as he wipes away his tears.

"Feel free to do it whenever you want to," Louis teases, bringing up a hand to hold Harry's face and guide their lips together again.

Harry's tummy erupts into butterflies as their lips meet again, this time with a little more passion, before whining again when another phone call goes off.

"Fucking hell!" Louis curses, reluctantly pulling away from Harry for the second time as the Sub giggle softly, the Dom looking fondly at him with a smirk.

"You're so adorable, Haz," he says as he gets up off of the bed and digs around in his hoodie pocket for his phone, groaning for the third time when he sees whose calling.

He meets eyes with Harry as he accepts the call, green eyes wide and worried staring into his.

"Hey, yeah....mm, no...I actually wanted to talk to you about that....I didn't finish....I said-....no.....don't bring him into this!" Louis suddenly shouts, standing up and looking away from Harry.

"I swear to god, Simon, this had to stop...Okay fine we'll be by later...I don't care I'm not coming in now...yeah well suck my toe!" Louis swears before hanging up with a smug look. 

"Louis!" Harry gasps.

"He deserves it, trust me. C'mon, let's go and get something to eat and we'll have a chat later about, uh, about us, yeah?" Louis asks, holding his hand out to pull Harry up, deciding not to let go as he leads the way to the living area where they find Zayn slumped in the corner of a sofa fast asleep and the two Doms engaged in what looks like a serious conversation.

"Hey guys, is Zayn okay?" Louis asks, sitting down on the other sofa before turning to Harry. "Did you wanna kneel at all today or just come up for a cuddle, bub?"

Harry blushes. "Cuddle, please," he says shyly as Louis pulls him back on to his lap.

"Zayn's fine, just tried and grumpy so I told him it would be best for everyone if he tried to get some more sleep," Liam says quietly, running a hand through the sleeping subs hair. "You two good?"

Harry's face reddens further, not quite ready for the boys to know about the previous events. He looks to Louis in worry, the Dom nodding reassuringly as if he could read Harry's mind.

"Fine, well actually not really. Simon called again, he wants me to go in later. I have no idea what it's about. But anyways, I'm really hungry, do you want me to go pick up some food?"

Niall stands up quickly. "It's okay, I can go and get something. You should stay here with Haz."

Harry blushes and whines, burying his face into Louis' shoulder. "Not a burden!"

Louis smiles fondly as he runs a hand up and down Harry's back. "I know, sweetheart. Ni didn't mean it quite like that. Would you like anything specific for breakie?"

"Can i-"

"I'm not getting you that bloody smoothie, Haz," Niall says sternly, Harry turning back to glare at the Dom.

"Why not!"

"Because!" Niall exasperated. "It's stupid, that's why. Nuh-uh."

Harry's eyes go wide and he stares at Niall pleadingly. "Please, Ni?" Pretty please?"

Niall glares a little longer before turning to Louis with a look of despair. "He's giving me the eyes!"

Louis blurts out a laugh, holding a hand over his mouth to try and hold it in, giving up and laughing again as he holds Harry tighter. "Aww, Sorry Hazza. I'm not laughing at you, bub. Niall you need better control than that if you're gonna have your own sub one day," the Dom teases.

"I've never met a sub who has Dom's wrapped around their fingers like Harry does. That's not normal," Niall humps, turning back to the younger boy. "Fine, I'll let you get the damn smoothie, but this is the last time! Anything else anyone wants?"

"Get me a tea and I'll love you forever!" Louis pleads as Niall rolls his eyes.

"Sure thing grandpa," Niall sasses, making it Harry's turn to blurt out a laugh and try to hide it by pushing his face into Louis' shoulder, failing miserably.

Niall takes the rest of the orders before leaving the bus, Zayn stirring awake slightly as he leaves.

"Okay, so I'm gonna go over a contract word for word and see if there's any loopholes or something. Haz, do you have your personal one?" Louis asks, pulling up his laptop and finding the band contract all five of them signed a few years ago.

"Um, I'm not sure?" Harry mutters quietly.

"You should have a digital copy somewhere, on your phone maybe?" Louis says distractedly, punching in the pin code.

Harry shakes his head. "Dunno, don't think I have one."

Louis frowns, looking up at Harry confusedly. "You have to a have a copy somewhere, love. We all have one, right guys?"

Liam and Zayn nod. "Yeah, 's on my phone," Zayn slurs out, rubbing sleep from his eye.

"Yeah, well, apparently I don't fucking have one of those either. Sorry," the sub says shortly, tired of constantly being left out of the loop.

"Hey, I know this situation isn't ideal but that's not excuse to use that tone on us or swear at us, yeah? Be polite, please," Louis reprimands sternly, making Harry blush and look down.

"Yes, Lou. Sorry, didn't mean to be rude," he says softly, blushing when Louis ruffles his hair.

"It's okay, I'm not mad. Just watch your tongue in the future, yeah? Good boy," he says as Harry nods. "Okay, I'm gonna email John and get him to email me a copy of your own contract, until then we'll just take a look over the group one. Li, you wanna take a look too so I don't miss something?" 

Liam nods, pulling his own laptop out quickly.

"Um, sir? Can I go talk to Z somewhere else quickly?" Harry says shyly, playing with Louis' collar nervously.

"Sure, you'll have to go ask Li first though, yeah?" Louis says kindly, smiling a little when Harry whines quietly. "Go on, Liam doesn't bite, sweetie."

Harry pouts a little before climbing off of Louis' lap and hesitantly walking over to the younger Dom. "Um, Li?" 

"Yes, Hazza?"

"Um, c-could I go talk to Zayn quickly? Alone?" The sub says quietly, "please?"

Liam smiles softly. "Sure, be careful though, he can be a bit grumpy when he's tired," the Dom teases, smirking when he gets a kick to his ribs from his own Sub.

"Go on then, don't get up to any mischeif back there!" Louis calls out as Zayn and Harry disappear into the back room, door closing and locking as they do so.

Harry ignores all of Zayn's questions, dragging him by the arm and pulling him into the bathroom again.

"You've got to be shitting me, surely there's somewhere else we can go than this bloody bathroom!" Zayn complains, pushing himseld to sit up by the sink as Harry starts nervously pacing the tiny space of the bathroom. 

"Okay, so, this morning," Harry starts.

"Yeah?"

"I kinda, I did something. But you can't tell anyone!" Harry blurts, looking up with wide eyes at Zayn.

The older boy frowns, his sleep riddled brain not quite catching up. "The hell did you do? Does Louis know?"

Harry's eyes dart back down the floor. "Well yeah, he was kinda there..."

Zayn's frown deepens. "So, you did something this morning? And I can't tell anyone? But Louis was there?"

Harry nods. "I, um, I kissed him?"

Zayn's jaw drops comicly open. 

"A-And then, um, then my phone went off, so we obviously stopped, and then he pulled me into his lap, and um, he told me he'd always hoped I could've been a sub, and then, um, then he kissed me again, and then the phone went back off so we stopped again, and then we came and sat with Liam," Harry finishes his ramble, tugging at his hair.

"Holy shit, you kissed Louis? Twice?" Zayn asks incredulously.

Harry nods again, biting his finger nails anxiously before groaning loudly. "Oh my god I knew I shouldn't have done it! I don't-, I'm not even that _good_ at kissing people, Z. And we did it in the bunks as well, in plain sight and view of any cameras or speech thingies Management have in there. Zayn!"

Zayn quickly hops off the counter, holding Harry by his two shoulders. "Okay, okay, calm down, it's okay. So, you kissed him. Or did he kiss you?"

Harry blushes a little as a small smile appears on his face. "Well, um, he kinda initiated it, after I told him I wanted him to kiss me," the sub says shyly.

Zayn's jaw drops further. "You _told_ him you wanted him to kiss you? Harry Styles! What happened to my blushing little shy best friend?!"

"I mean, it wasn't like that, I just, I don't know. Should I not have said that?" Harry panics.

"No, its good that you did. It's nice to see subs being open about what they actually want. So, like, were you standing up? Or were you already in his lap?"

Harry blushes more. "Um, no, well, he kinda pushed me onto the bed-"

"He what!"

"A-and then he was just, like, leaning down on top of me, without like, lying on me and squishing me," Harry finishes quietly, smiling when Zayn squeals.

"Oh my God! This is so perfect, Haz. So was it like, a desperate kiss? Or soft and sweet? Ohmygod was there any tongue?"

"Zayn!" Harry squeals, pushing Zayn away slightly. "I don't know, it just kinda, at first it was just a soft kiss, and then just as it went to like, um, you know," Harry used his hands to try and explain what he didn't want to say outloud.

"Once the tommo tongue started to make an appearance!" Zayn said shamelessly, smirking when Harry rolled his eyes.

"No, don't call it that. Anyways, when that started to happen the phone went off. Both times."

"Aww! That's so cute! So why exactly are you here discussing this with me and not out there kissing your boyfriend?" Zayn asks.

"Shh!" Harry shouts, quickly putting his hand over Zayn's mouth. "We're not boyfriends, okay? He just kissed me one time. Two times. It doesn't mean anything, he's probably kissed loads of people before."

This time its Zayn's turn to roll his eyes. "Yeah, as if it didn't mean anything, idiot. C'mon, lets go and sit with your maybe boyfriend."

"Wait! I, um, I need help," Harry says quietly, face going red but this time in embarrassment. "Um, I'm not, like, particulrly equipped in the skills of the bedroom department. A-And I'm not saying that Louis definitely wants to go there, but like, _if_ he did, I don't know what I'm doing."

Zayn smirks. "Have you ever heard of this wonderful thing called porn?"

Harry glares at his friend. "Funny. Anyways, if Louis found out I'm pretty sure that would be against the rules. And I really don't want another punishment."

"Okay, so, can you not watch porn on incognito. I can get Louis out with Liam for a bit if you want?"

Harry blushes and avoids eye contact with Zayn. "U-Um, I mean, Louis' taken my phone, and he's probably gonna take my laptop too. Plus, I'd feel way too guilty."

"You can watch on mine?" Zayn offers, Harry shrugging shyly.

"Maybe? It's fine, it's stupid it's not like anythings actually gonna happen, so," Harry shrugs, back to anxiously biting his finger nails.

Both subs heads turn towards the door when they hear the famous cackle of Niall Horan.

"C'mon, let's go get some breakfast, yeah?" Zayn says softly, Harry jumping a little a nodding.

"Um, Zayn? Can you just keep this between us? I don't want it to be a big deal," Harry says nervously.

"Sure, babe," Zayn says with a reassuring smile, "and Haz? I'm really happy for you, you deserve to be happy."

Harry smiles and throws his arms around Zayn, hugging him tightly as Zayn hugs him back.

"Let's go," Harry says, a little more confidently as the two head back out to the Dom's.

-

Harry bites his lip to hide a smile when he sees Louis sitting up on one of the sofas, looking all kinds of hot as he speaks seriously with Liam.

Zayn waltzes over and sinks down next to his boyfriend, Louis looking up and smiling when his eyes meet green.

The Dom reaches out a hand as Harry shyly walks over and let's Louis pull him into his lap.

"Hey, everything okay?" Louis asks quietly as Harry curls up tiredly into his lap.

Harry nods as his eyes shut. "Tired."

A soft kiss is pressed to Harry's temple, making the sub squirm and blush again. "I know, sweetheart. Wanna drink this up? Might give you some energy."

Harry opens one eye and gives a small yelp of happiness when he sees his smoothie. "Thank you, Niall," he says as he holds the smoothie in both hands, shutting his eyes again as he lazily sucks on the drink.

"Good manners, bub. Finish that and then we get started on your contract, yeah? We've managed to track down your own one," Louis says as he rubs a comforting hand up and down Harry's back.

"How?"

Louis looks up quickly at Liam before looking back down at the sub. "Don't worry about it, Liam managed to, um, kind of hack into Sycos files. Niall got muffins if you want one?"

Harry shakes his head, knowing Louis just managed to successfully change the subject, too tired to question him further.

-

Before too long, Louis is heading off to the offices at Syco, a feeling of irritation at not being able to fine anymore information from the contracts.

No loopholes.

No nothing.

He finishes tying up his shoe laces as he looks up, noticing it's just him and Harry left in the room. "Hey, darling, c'mere".

Harry slowly walks over, stepping in between Louis' legs as the Dom tugs him further. 

"I'll be okay, babe. I can feel you worrying and stressing, nothing bad is going to happen to me. I promise," Louis says honestly, looking up to the younger boy.

"What if you're not, though? What if they threaten you? Or get angry at you? Or make you date Eleanor Calder? Or-"

"Woah, okay, slow down, sweetie. Who's Eleanor Calder?" Louis asks, confusion laced through his words as he pulls Harry down to sit on one thigh. 

"She's the girl they want you to fake date. She's really pretty," Harry adds, almost bitterly as Louis hides a smirk.

"Even if she is really pretty, she hasn't got anything on you, baby boy," Louis says earnestly, pressing a soft kiss to Harry's nose, "nothing on you."

Harry nods, hands placed on his knees as he sits awkwardly on Louis' knee. 

It's not that he doesn't wanna be with Louis, of course he does, he just doesn't know where he stands with him anymore.

_Rule number seven, you are to verbally communicate with us at all times. This includes during a punishment and outside of punishment, but we want you to actually tell us how you feel._

Fuck it.

"Um, Lou?"

"Yes, love?"

"Um, where exactly do we, uh, stand. Like, this morning you kissed me. Twice. Was it just, like, spur of the moment kinds thing? O-Or you decided you don't wanna do it again? O-Or, um, do you like, uh, wanna keep, um, doing it?" Harry asks tentatively, eyes down at his lap as he fiddles with his fingers.

"What do you want to do?" Louis asks, making Harry frown.

He wanted Louis to answer first, considering he'd asked him first, but was it going to be considered rude if he told Louis as such? Was that speaking back?

"Um, I'd like it if you could answer first, please? B-because, um, I did ask first?" He squeaks out.

"Of course, sorry, babe. Well done for communicating well with me. I'd like to keep developing what we have between us. I think it's way to early to put a label on anything, especially considering the circumstances, but we can probably scrap the label of 'just friends' or 'brothers' and keep kissing in private, or more than that, if that's something you want too and are comfortable with. Are you?" Louis asks.

Harry bites his bottom lip as wide eyes look up into the Dom's. "Very much. I really like you, I just wanted to make sure."

Louis grins. "I really like you too. Will you be okay whilst I'm gone?"

Harry nods, a few curls falling forwards into his vision. "Yes, Lou. I'll be good, promise. Will you text Liam or Niall if something goes wrong or you need help?"

Louis nods. "Of course, and you can contact me though there phones if need be, okay?"

Harry nods again, suddenly turning shy.

"Hey, look at me," Louis says in a hushed tone as Harry slowly looks back up. "You're so beautiful."

Harry squirms a little again as Louis' eyes drop to his lips, slowly leaning in as a hand comes up to cup Harry's cheek, lips softly meeting.

Harry let's his eyes flutter shut, gripping onto Louis' shirt a little out of instinct, allowing Louis to completely dominate and control the kiss.

This one is more powerful and desperate than the others, a show of Harry's fear and anxiety over Louis' safety, and Louis' anger at management.

Louis guides one of Harry's thighs to carefully swing over to the other side of his hip as the sub straddles him, Harry whimpering slightly at the intimacy.

They carry on as Louis' hands run up Harry's back, finally reaching his hair as he tugs lightly, pulling a moan out of the boy.

The moan seems to flick a switch in Louis' brain as he quickly pulls back, Harry panting a little as he slumps forwards into Louis' hold. "Shit, sorry. Got a little bit carried away there. You okay?"

Harry nods, willing himself to calm down a little. He definitely needed to watch that porn later if things were escalating this quickly with Louis.

"Good, okay. I really have to go now, princess. You gonna watch a film of something with the boys?" Louis says, voice slightly hoarse and shaky as he also wills himself to calm down, a little more literally than the sub.

"Maybe. Zayn said something about doing another yoga class. Be safe whilst you're gone," Harry says quietly, getting up off of Louis' lap and walking behind him up to the door, waving him off.

"Jeez, you're acting like he's going off to war."

Harry jumps out of his skin, spinning round and clutching his chest when he sees it's just Zayn. "Jeez, the hell did you sneak up on me for?"

Zayn just laughs, wrapping an arm around Harry's shoulders. "C'mon, lover boy, we've got a yoga sesh to get to."

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas Eve xx


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait.
> 
> I hope you enjoy
> 
> Please comment and let me know what you think xx

"Hey, Niall?"

Niall slowly opens one eye from where he'd been trying to take a nap in the bunks just to see Harry and Zayn sitting next to his bed with deceivingly innocent faces.

"What do you want?" He asks gruffly.

"Oh, you know, we just wanted to see how, um, how you were?" Harry asks politely.

Niall groans and rubs a hand over his face, sitting upright and pulling the cover over his body. "Yeah, you're not fooling me. Just spit it out."

"Right. So, um, me and Haz kinda had a thing we wanted to do. But we can't do that thing with you and Liam on the bus, but if I told Liam that he'd go on some huge rant about safety and being honest and blah blah blah. So, what we're asking for is that you tell Liam you need to go the shop for something, drag him along with you, decide you wanna go out for lunch, take an hour or so, and then...then you can come back. Okay? Cool, great, glad we've understood each other, we'll just be on our way now, thanks Ni," Zayn rambles, grabbing Harry by the hand and making to stand up and walk away, halting his movement when Niall grabs onto his wrist.

"Wait," Niall says, making the two subs freeze and hold in a sigh, "I'm not that stupid. What is it you need to do?"

"What we wanted to do? Um, it's sub stuff, it's kinda...um, we don't really feel that comfortable telling you, no offense," Zayn says quietly.

"Okay, if it's 'sub stuff', you should really tell your Doms, no? So Zayn you should go and tell Liam, and Harry you should tell me. Or Liam or Lou. So that's your options, either tell me, or tell Liam, but I'm not covering for you guys if you don't tell me what you're doing," Niall says seriously, "Harry? You haven't exactly said much?"

Harry looks over to Zayn with panicked eyes, the older sub just giving him a reassuring look. "Um, the thing is, since telling you guys I'm a sub, I feel like, um, like I've had my every move watched. And um," Harry's eyes flick over to Zayn as he wrings his hands and then back to Niall, "and it's, um, I just feel really pressured by it. And I didn't want to hurt Louis' feelings so we thought we'd ask you instead. We just wanted, um, wanted a little bit of time alone."

Harry feels guilt pouring out of him as he straight up lies to Niall. Niall, whose been nothing but understanding in this whole process, Niall who even went and got his smoothie this morning when he didn't have to, Niall whose giving him a look of pure worry and concern.

Harry feels a little sick looking at Niall, quickly averting his eyes to the floor.

"Haz, I'm really sorry you've been feeling like that, but you should have told us. _All_ of us, yeah? You still need to tell at least Louis," Niall says, Harry shrugging and picking at his fingers.

"Louis' stressed out enough as it is. Plus, it's not a big deal, we just wanted an hour to be alone. It's fine if you say no," Harry adds, not wanting to force anything on the Dom.

Niall stares at Harry's hunched over figure and feels bad for the kid. "Okay, fine. Just this once I'm going to forget we've had this conversation and I'll get Liam out of the bus for one hour. No longer. And if you feel better when we get back we'll forget it happened. But if you still feel the same then we're telling the other two, okay? Or if you feel the same in the future than you tell them too. No negotiating. Deal?"

Harry sags a little in relief. "Okay, thank you so much Niall."

Niall smiles, opening his arms up for Harry. "C'mere," he says as Harry goes into Niall's arms, "I'm sorry you've been feeling rubbish."

Harry doesn't say anything, just burrows into Niall's hold, trying to not let himself get emotional.

The tears threatening to seep out of his eyes suggest he's not doing so well at that.

"Hey, are you sure you're okay, Haz?" Niall asks, noticing Harry's distress.

Harry nods.

"He's fine. We just, um, we just need some alone time. Like, now," Zayn says, pulling Harry away from Niall much to the subs displeasure.

Niall frowns but agrees anyways. "Um, okay. Let me just go and talk to Liam quickly."

Niall leaves and Harry whines turning to Zayn. "I can't, I can't do this! I feel bad!"

"Oh my god, calm down maybe? It's not the end of the world, it's just a little white lie. Why are you getting so worked up over this?" Zayn asks, feeling a little bad when Harry shrugs and starts picking at his fingers. "Okay, I'm sorry I didn't mean it quite like that. I just meant, like, you need to stop putting so much pressure on yourself to never put a toe out of line. Subs do naughty things all the time and they know it's probably gonna get them into trouble but that's okay."

Harry just sniffles. "I don't wanna make Louis disappointed in me. He doesn't like naughty or bratty subs he's already told me that."

"Yeah, well, Louis' just very strict. It doesn't mean you still need to be perfect all the time. Everyone gets into trouble, Harry. And watching porn isn't even on your list of things not to do, so you're not breaking any rules. Therefore technically Louis can't punish you," Zayn says simply.

"Lying is, and we just lied to Niall. To his face. His face that looked very concerned and now I feel guilty," Harry argues back, making Zayn roll his eyes.

"Look, sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do to get some action in his life. Niall would understand, stop stressing over it so much."

Harry doesn't want to be annoying so he just nods his head and tells himself to calm down.

He felt like because he was younger he was being annoying, and Zayn didn't want to deal with that.

"Okay, you stay here and I'm gonna go see when Liam and Niall are doing and then I'll be back," Zayn says before dashing out the room.

Harry sighs and pulls his sweater sleeve down over his hands anxiously. He knew what he was doing was wrong, and it just didn't feel like a good time to be doing it. Not with everything that had happened today.

A few moments later Zayn comes back with a grin on his face. "Okay, they're gone. Let's go into the games room and sit on the sofa."

Harry does so, letting Zayn squish up next to him before he pulls a blanket up over them both. "Okay, so, what kind of thing are you wanting to watch?"

Harry shrugs, biting his nails.

"Okay so there's not really, like, vanilla porn, cause that's not a thing, but I can pull up some not so kinky shit or I can go full dominatrix, it's up to you," Zayn asks casually like he's asking Harry what his favourite sandwich is.

"I don't know, what do you watch?" He asks quietly.

"Babe I don't think we should go there. Why don't you just tell me a kink of yours that you're into and I'll search for that?" Zayn says with a smirk.

Harry groans, covering his face. "I don't know! This is so awkward!"

Zayn rolls his eyes. "Okay, I'll go first. I like being told when I can or can't come, your turn."

"Um, I-I guess, uh, I would like being, like, hand cuffed. And maybe blindfolded?" Harry questions shyly.

"Okay, so you like being tied up. Let's just find something like that," Zayn says, opening the laptop and searching for that on incognito.

They find one, the Dom being some huge 6ft 7 massive muscles kind of man, and the sub some tiny sub, skinny arms and legs and pale skin.

"Ugh, why do they always make them look like the biggest stereotypes ever?" Zayn complains, shifting around to get comfy as the Dom on the video starts hand cuffing the boy.

Harry, despite his guilt, watches the video intently, seeing the way the guy holds so much power over the sub just from the way he's circling around him.

He then blindfolds and gags him, pulling him up and carelessly throwing him onto the bed, leaning over him until they're face to face.

_The Dom breathes heavily over the Sub, not moving until suddenly he spits on him, making the sub flinch._

_"You're disgusting, aren't you? You're pathetic, a good for nothing whore. You're just a few holes open for me whenever I need them,"_ _the Dom whispers, the subs breath hitching._

Harry feels wrong. He knows he shouldn't like it, because Subs should be treated equally and he should hate it if someone did that to him.

But...he's imagining it if it was Louis doing that to him. Telling him he's pathetic, a slut, and he feels a deep feeling of want and arousal flood through him.

Does that make him messed up in the head?

The Dom's large hand then comes crashing down onto the subs face, surely leaving a harsh bruise as the sub lets out a sob, thrashing slightly on the bed.

"Shit, Harry I'm sorry I didn't realise it was gonna be like that," Zayn rambles, rushing up to turn the video off as Harry realises he'd let out a loud gasp. "Harry-"

"Hello?" 

Zayn and Harry look up at each other in fear. That was Louis.

"Shit," Zayn says, scrambling around to try close the tab, accidentally playing it again as the subs sob rings out again for a millesecond before Zayn slams the screen down instead.

"What the hell was that?"

"Zayn what do we do?" Harry whispers in panic, fear running through him.

Zayn just gives him a pointed look before Louis walks in, looking at the two subs with a look of either concern or anger. Or both.

Probably both.

Zayn smiles up at him. "Oh, hey Lou. We didn't think you'd be back so soon, how was the meeting?"

"Where's Liam and Niall?" Louis asks, not answering the question and now Harry can definitely here more anger in his voice. 

He thinks back to the sub being slapped on the video and decides he definitely only wants Louis to do that if they're in the bedroom, not when he's genuinely angry.

"Oh, they went out for some lunch. Did you need them?" Zayn asks.

"So they just left the two of you on your own? Fucking brilliant," Louis swears, throwing his bag at the wall a bit too violently as it smashes against the wall making both Harry and Zayn flinch. "What was that noise I heard before I came in?"

"What noise?" Zayn asks innocently, Harry gulping when Louis rolls his eyes and holds his hand out. 

"Give me the laptop."

"What? No! It's my laptop! I don't have to give you anything!" Zayn protests.

"Are you saying no to me right now, Zayn Malik?" Louis asks, eyes narrowing.

"Yes, I am. Because you're not my fucking Dom, so I'm allowed to. Don't patronise me!" Zayn argues back, standing off of the couch to Louis didn't have a height advantage over him.

"I seem to remember your rules very clearly, Zayn. And I'd say you're not being very polite right now, wouldn't you? Shall we call Liam and let him know?" Louis threatens.

"That's bullshit! I'm not gonna be polite to someone whose not being polite back. If Liam was here he'd understand!" Zayn argues.

"Yeah? Well Liam isn't here because he thought it would be a smart idea to leave two subs on a bus where anyone could get in at any time, so excuse me if I don't take your boyfriend's opinion into consideration!" Louis shouts back.

Harry watches fearfully from the couch, not knowing what he can do to calm either side of the argument down.

"Oh right cause me and Harry would never be able to defend ourselves if someone got in, right? If anyone could get on the bus at anytime that means they'd also be able to get in when you guys are here too. So are you saying that we can't defend ourselves?" Zayn asks rhetorically, hands on his hips in anger.

"I never said you wouldn't be able to defend yourselves, Zayn! But if some crazy man did manage to get on the bus all he'd have to do is use his Don voice on the two of you and you'd be under his control. So I'm sorry for trying to maintain your safety at all time," Louis argues back.

"Our safety! If you really cared about our safety you wouldn't have come waltzing in here to start shouting and picking a fight with two subs. Cause you know, all you have to do is use your dom voice on us and we're fucked!" Zayn spits out, using Louis' own words against himself.

"Well you dont look particularly scared at me shouting at you-"

"For fucks sake, open your eyes dip shit! I wasn't talking about me, I was talking about Harry!" Zayn shouts, silencing everyone.

Louis snaps out of whatever he was in as his eyes snap over to Harry, whose beautiful eyes are wide open in fear, knees tucked into his chest.

"Shit, Hazza I'm sorry, I'm not going to shout anymore, okay?" Louis says, hands held out to Harry to try and show him he isn't a threat.

The sub just flinches and shrinks back, avoiding eye contact with Louis

"Lou, you need to leave and go calm down, okay?" Zayn says calmly, standing in front of Harry protectively.

Louis sighs and drags his eyes away from Harry and up to Zayn. "Okay, fine. I'm going to go and sit up the front with the driver, come and get me if you need anything."

Zayn waits and watches until Louis has disappeared before turning around to Harry and placing his hands on his shoulders. "Harry?"

Harry's eyes flick up to Zayn. "I-I have to go and talk to him, Z. I need to apologize, I've fucked everything-"

"Woah, calm down, Hazza. You don't need to apologize for anything, yeah? Are you okay?"

Harry shakes his head rapidly, wiping away tears as quickly as they're falling.

"Okay, let me just call Liam quickly, okay?"

Harry nods as Zayn pulls his phone up, mind running wild as he thinks about what just happened.

He deliberately broke the rules.

He lied to Niall.

He lied to Louis.

And now he was sure he was fucked up in the head cause he couldn't help but think about how desperately he wanted Louis to degrade him and spit on him.

Why did he like that?

"Yeah, he's gone completely apeshit...He's gone now...Okay...Okay, love you...Bye," Zayn finishes the call, throwing the phone on the sofa and sitting up close to next to Harry.

"Okay, so, we're going to tell them that we were watching some netflix show on the laptop and then Louis came in and started getting angry, okay? You cannot mention the porn to anyone, Harry, because I'll be in so much trouble," Zayn says seriously.

"Don't like lying..." Harry whispers, playing with a loose hem on his jeans.

"It's not- it's not lying, as such. We were watching a video, we're just slightly bending the truth about where we were watching it. And I am sorry about that porn, I didn't know it was gonna be abusive like that, you should never let someone treat you like that, Haz," Zayn says, making Harry feel more and more wrong by the second.

"Fine, but you can't tell Liam or Niall everything Louis said. We can just say he was quite angry and it put me on edge a little bit so you made him go and calm down, deal?" Harry asks tentatively.

"What the hell? I'm not going to lie to Liam when Louis' the one in the wrong here. Why do you even want to defend him-"

"Because I don't want the band to be divided. Louis just came back from a potentially shitty meeting, and it is kinda my fault that he was pissed off even more when he came back. So we can just miss out all the bad parts okay? Besides, its not like we're lying, we're just bending the truth, right?" Harry says shyly, using Zayn's own words back to him making the sub groan.

"Fucking hell, okay fine. But Louis was being a dick."

Harry just nods, not wanting to continue arguing with Zayn.

This had been a horrific day from start to end and it was only lunch time. It felt like years ago he'd been called in for that meeting, and even longer ago that he'd kissed (kissed!!) Louis.

He really wanted to just go home, more than anything in the world.

"Zayn?!" Liam calls out, rushing through the bus and sighing in relief when he finds Zayn, "Shit, I was so worried about you. Are you okay?"

Zayn nods and lets Liam wrap him up tight in a hug, watching Niall walk in and do the same to Harry.

"What happened?"

"Um, I think Louis was just mad from the meeting and when he got back he kinda shouted a little bit-"

"He shouted at you? What the hell did he say?" Liam asks sternly.

"Oh, um, just asking where you were and, um, why were left alone. It wasn't a big deal, it just made Harry a little bit anxious.

Niall frowns at that and looks down at Harry. "You still don't feel good?"

Harry panics and shrugs his shoulders. "Fine."

Niall goes to question him further but is interupted by Liam. "Where is he now? Louis!"

Harry holds in a sigh as Louis comes into the room.

"Yes?"

"Oi, drop the fucking attitude. What is your problem?" Liam asks angrily.

"Don't tell me what to fucking do. I don't have a problem, I just need to talk to Harry," Louis says back through gritted teeth.

Apparently fighting fire with fire was not a good idea.

"You wanna tell me why you shouted at Harry and Zayn then?"

"You wanna tell me why your sub shouted back at me-"

"Zayn didn't shout at Louis!" Harry blurts out, cringing and falling back a little into Niall's embrace as all eyes turn to him, "Louis didn't really shout at Zayn either. He was just angry when he came back a-and I was already feeling kinda anxious so, um, we just asked him to sit up the front until, um, until there were other people on board with us."

Louis' eyes narrow in on Harrys.

"That right?" Liam asks.

Zayn glares at Harry, turning around to slump into Liams hold. "Yeah."

"Harry I need to talk to you, right now. Alone, please," Louis orders, making Harry sigh and walk over to him. "Can you three go out back and give us a little time, please?"

Unwillingly Liam agrees, taking Zayn by the wrist and walking to the bunks, Niall right behind them, shutting the door closed behind him.

"Okay, first of all, I'm extremely sorry about the way I behaved earlier. I never should have spoken to you or Zayn like that, I let the anger get the better of me and I hope you'll be able to understand that I've made a mistake. Secondly, why did you lie for me back there?" Louis asks softly, finding it hard to keep the anger he had before when he's got the most beautiful boy in the world standing in front of him.

"I forgive you, Sir. And um, it was sort of my fault anyways. I lied because I didn't want there to be a big argument and I knew Liam would be mad at you if Zayn told him what had really happened. I know what you said wasn't right but it still doesn't mean you deserve all the shit he woudv'e given you," Harry says quietly, eyes on the floor until Louis softly grips Harry's chin and lifts it up a little, their eyes meeting.

"Darling, when I make mistakes or I do things that are wrong you have to let me take the consequences of that. It's like if everytime you acted out I just lied to make sure you were okay you'd never grow as a person or a sub, and you would never be able to feel okay again. It's like you'd constantly be over ridden with guilt, yeah?"

Harry nods. "Yeah but you're a Dom, you're not supposed to be punsihed."

"Not in the way you are, but some couples do engage with that. But when Dom's make mistakes, and they do and they will because everyone make mistakes and none of us are perfect, they still have to understand the consequences of that. You're also making Zayn lie to his Dom and not get the care he needs after I treated him awfully," Louis explains softly.

"Me and Zayn had an agreement," Harry mutters.

"And whats that?"

Harry sighs, kicking his foot back and forth before finally looking back up to Louis. "I maybe did something not right but Zayn made me promise not to tell you because it gets both of us into trouble. And now I don't know what to do because I feel so guilty and wrong but if I tell you I'm still going to feel guilty and wrong."

Louis frowns, sitting down on the sofa and lifting Harry carefully into his lap. "You can tell me, baby. We don't have to tell the others if you don't want to, but you have to tell me if you did something naughty. Did you break one of your rules?"

"It's not, um, not neccessarily a rule, but I don't think you'd be happy with it anyways," Harry says quietly.

"Was it to do with what you were watching on the laptop before I came in?" Louis questions, finding it adorably endearing when Harry looks up at him in shock.

"How did you know?"

"Sweetheart, you both were acting very suspiciously about it, and the sound that came out sounded quite dodgy. I'm going to give you the opportunity to tell me what it was first, otherwise I'm gonna have to go and get the laptop and look myself," Louis says, softly and yet sternly at the same time.

Harry whines a little, shifting in Louis' lap. "Um, it was a video."

"Of what?"

"Oh, um, it was a, um, porn video," Harry says quietly, face flushing red in embarrassment.

"I'm sorry?"

Harry clears his voice. "It was a, um, porn video, Sir."

Louis doesn't say anything for a while.

"I'm really sorry! I know it wasn't right! Please don't be mad at me?" Harry babbles, panicking himself and working himself up.

"Hey, no, shh, don't get upset darling. I'm sorry, I was just trying to think through everything in my head," Louis explains, running a hand up and down Harry's back softly. "Whilst you're right that you don't have a specific no porn rule, you still knew you were doing something wrong and by not telling me when I asked you earlier suggests that."

Harry nods, feeling guiltier and guiltier by the second. 

"However-"

"I did something else too," Harry interrupts, making Louis hold in a sigh.

"Okay, but lets try not to interrupt me again when I'm speaking, yeah? Go ahead, tell me what else you did," Louis says.

"Sorry Sir. Um, I lied to Niall earlier. Me and Zayn wanted to be alone so we could watch the video, so I told Niall that I'd felt overwhelmed by constantly being watched by Dom's and I wanted to be alone for a little bit. I feel bad for making Niall worry," the sub explains, spinning the ring on his finger round and round.

Louis sighs again. "Okay, kneel down by my feet for me, please."

Harry nods, clambering off of Louis' lap and folding his long limbs underneath him as he kneels, feeling calmer when Louis starts stroking through his hair.

"Okay, good boy. You're always so good at following orders for me, Hazza. We've both made mistakes today, but I've had enough of the lying and miscommnunication between myself and you, and between the rest of the band. In a moment we are going to join the rest of the boys and you are going to explain what happened today. Does that sound fair to you, sweetheart?" Louis asks gently.

"Yes Sir. What if Zayn is mad at me?"

Louis rubs Harry's ear. "Liam will talk some sense into him, don't worry. Now I don't want to punish you for today, baby, because it's been a very long day and a lot has happened, including us developing our relationship. If you'd have watched porn right at the start of all this, I wouldn't have had a say in punishing you because that part of your life would've been your business and your business only. However, I'm not comfortable with you doing it now. Therefore, all I'm going to do is take away your laptop priveleges, you'll only be able to use it if I can see what you're doing at all times. Same will go with your phone. That will just be for the next two weeks. Any objections so far?"

Harry shakes his head. 

"Words, Harry," the Dom warns, hand stilling in his hair.

"Sorry, sir. I don't have any objections," tHarry clarifies.

"Good boy. Now, regarding the meeting I've just come back from, I'm afraid it isn't good news," Louis says sadly, feeling his heart clench as Harry looks up at him in a panic.

Those wide, bambi style green eyes that looked at Louis like he hung the world. Like he would trust his life with him.

And Louis hadn't been able to protect him with this.

"The girl you mentioned, Eleanor Calder? They've signed the contracts with her. She'll publicly be my sub from Monday," Louis says sadly.

Harry gasps as a tear runs down his face. "No, no, no nononono, they-they promised! They promised!" Harry cries.

Louis pulls him up from the floor and back into his lap, where he should belong, and holds him tightly as Harry buries his face into Louis' chest. 

"Calm down, baby. It's okay," Louis sushes.

"No! It's not okay! He-he said th-that I had three strikes, and if I broke them then they'd make you go out with Eleanor! I haven't even done anything!" Harry sobs, his small chest shaking as he tries to take in a breath.

"It's okay, just try and breathe for me, Hazza. You're going to give yourself an asthma attack in a moment," Louis says quietly, waititng for Harry to calm down before continuing. "I told them that if I went out with her publicly they had to stop harrassing you, okay? So as long as I don't mess up, you won't have to do any pr stunts for a little while. Doesn't that sound nice?" Louis asks softly, trying his hardest to encourage a good response out of the younger boy.

"No! I-I mean, that sounded ungrateful and very rude, I'm sorry. B-But I-I don't want you to have all that pressure on you. I don't want you to have to fake a relationship for me," Harry sniffles, wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve which should be so gross but somehow Harry makes that cute as well.

"It's alright, sweetheart. We'll just see how it goes. It might not be that bad, will probably just be a few dinners here and there."

"What if you end up catching feelings for her?" Harry asks quietly as Louis bursts out laughing. "Heyyy! Stop laughing at me! I was being serious," the sub whines.

Louis composes himself so he's just grinning. "Sorry, sorry sweetheart. You do know I'm very fucking gay, right? I'm not going to be catching feelings for her, or anyone unless their names are Harry Edward Styles and they have beautiful green eyes and dorky jokes and the ability to go from daddy to baby in the matter of a few seconds."

Harry blushes, hiding his face into Louis' neck as Louis presses a kiss to his head.

"I'm sorry about the beard, Haz. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you from this," Louis says sadly, "but we'll be okay, I know it. Nothing is going to seperate us, not management, not fans, no-one. I'll always be there to look after you."

Harry smiles. "You don't have to always protect me, Lou. I'm a big boy, just having you here is enough."

-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that wasn't too terrible. Let me know what you thought in the comments.
> 
> I've started a little prompt list thingy where I have a list of prompts and you can request one, it's on my page if you wanna check it out, I've already uploaded two one shots. I'd like to know what you thought of those as well.
> 
> I hope you are all okay and happy and safe
> 
> Thank you for reading xxxx


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait
> 
> Hope you enjoy
> 
> Leave a comment

Leather.

Black leather.

Black leather with a silver clasp.

Harry felt the air being knocked out from his lungs as he watched Louis tighten the buckle up on the collar.

The collar that wasn't around his neck, but around a girl's neck.

Around Eleanor Calder's neck.

"Is that too tight?" Louis asks softly, making Harry's hands turn to fists by his side.

That should be him. He wants to Louis to be asking _him_ if his collar is too tight. Not some beard!

"No, 's fine," the girl whispers timidly, like she's scared of being too loud.

Harry thinks he should probably feel bad for her, but he's too caught up in his own head.

"Okay, we're gonna walk through that crowd now into the car waiting for us, I'll be holding your hand, just don't stop to talk to anyone. The paps can kinda be shitty and invasive, but if you just keep walking there isn't too much they can do. You'll be okay," Louis says with a kind smile, trying his best to reassure the sub.

"Right! We need to leave now, car 1 is Liam, Zayn and Harry, car 2 is Louis, Eleanor and Niall. Let's go, please," Paul calls out, gathering the car 2 people together, "Liam, you gonna be okay?"

"We'll be fine, Paul, cheers," Liam says, grabbing both Zayn and Harry.

Harry wished so bad he had someone else with him cause Liam was mad at Zayn and Zayn was mad at Harry that he'd told everyone what had really happened.

Harry was just tired.

Of everything.

He feels himself getting pulled along to a different exit door, a feeling of great sadness washing over him as he realises Louis didn't say bye to him.

Sure, they were only going for a short drive to the airport, but he didn't check he was okay and Harry didn't get to check with him either.

He'd been too busy with Eleanor.

"Why do we have to fucking ride with him," Zayn mutters under his breath, Harry snapping back into focus as he feels his eyes prick with tears.

Liam grips Zayn's chin tightly, releasing Harry's wrist as he does, standing so his face is merely millimeters away from his subs.

"I have had enough if this attitude from you. If you have nothing nice to say than I highly suggest you say nothing at all. Do not blame Harry for your blatant misbehaviour, you know what your rules are, and it seems to me you're on a fucking mission to break them all today. You haven't been this naughty in a really long time, Zayn, and I suggest you snap out of it now. You are only adding on to your punishment right now," he growls under his breath, air fanning over Zayn's face.

Zayn just glares back, anger filled in his eyes. "Yes Sir," he says blankly, clearly not agreeing with anything his Dom has just said.

Harry looks away and at the floor, focusing on his breathing techniques he'd learnt.

In for four.

Hold for four.

Our for four.

Hold for four.

"That is enough! Do you want me to deliver your punishment right here right now?! Where all the paps will be able to see?! You know better, Zayn, stop fucking testing me."

In for four.

"Fuck you," Zayn spits out.

Hold for four. _Don't cry don't cry don't cry._

"Apologize right now," Liam warns.

Out for four. _My heart's gonna burst._

"Make me," Zayn fight back.

Hold for four. _I'm drowning I'm drowning I'm drowning._

"I've had enough of you today. You will no longer be able to speak unless I've given you permission. Every time you do I'll deliver five spanks wherever we may be. You can only speak to colour out, I don't wanna hear anything else from you otherwise. Clear?" Liam orders.

"Crystal," Zayn says back, folding his arms across his chest and pulling away from his Dom.

Liam sighs heavily and Harry really doesn't want to create anymore problems but he really feels like he could die. "Li?"

Liam's eyes shoot over to Harry's, warm and filled with concern and nothing like they had been not two moments ago. "Are you okay, H?"

"Um, I don't feel good," Harry whispers.

Liam presses a hand to his forehead before checking his pulse. "Jesus, you're blood pressure is through the roof. You're not-"

"I'm just scared, and anxious, I think. I don't know, I feel like I might pass out," Harry whispers, "I don't want Zayn to be mad at me," he mutters quietly enough that only Liam can hear.

"Hey, Zayn isn't mad at you, not really. He just has some stuff he needs to figure out and in the meantime he's taking it out on you. You haven't done anything wrong, okay?" Liam says softly.

"And Niall?"

Niall has barely spoken to him or given him a second glance since he'd told the boys what had actually happened.

"Is probably just hungry and tired. Again, he will come around. He may be just a bit hurt that you lied to him, and that is understandable, but when he's calmed down a bit you can talk to him. You're stressing yourself out too much, Haz. Do you want me to get Louis?"

"No! No, I, um, I'll be fine. We should probably just get going. Well there, um, be some water in the car?" The younger boy asks quietly.

"Maybe. If not we can stop off and get some, yeah? Right then, let's go. Hazza, you first, Zayn, in-between me and Harry, I'll take the back. Do not stop, H, okay? For anyone," Liam says seriously.

Harry knows, knows why he has to go first.

It's such a small thing but it feels like a punch to the gut everytime.

Zayn goes in the middle because he's a sub and he needs protecting, and the two Dom's will do that. 

Harry hates having to go first, especially when there's no Paul, but it would look weird if he went last.

Harry sees Liam take a grip of Zayns hips, ready to guide him, takes a deep breath, and goes for it.

The sound is near god-damn deafening.

Harry feels like he's walking against a brick wall, bright lights flashing off in his eyes as people crowd closer and closer.

He tries to stand taller, bigger, quickly becoming Harry Styles the pop star from One Direction, and pushes his way through, until a hand grabs his and tugs. 

"Hey! Can I get a picture real quick!" The girl screams above the crowd into his hear, making him wince but smile and put a thumbs up to the camera.

He tries to start walking again, feeling Zayn right up behind him, but now that one person has been successful with a picture, it seems everyone is.

"Sorry, could you just move a little bit?" Harry tries shouting, using his shoulder to try and keep moving through the crowd.

"Hey, guys, how long have Louis and his new lady been going out?" A reporter asks, making Harry snap his head up and make eye contact with the guy. "Harry? You and Louis used to be quite close?"

Harry looks back down and barges through a little more, faster than before, almost swearing as he sees the reporter keeping up with him.

"He seemed very infatuated with her, can you tell us anymore about his mystery girl?"

So the news was out then.

The media knew. Louis Tomlinson was finally tied down.

And they had photographic evidence finally too.

Harry wanted to scream.

Suddenly Harry was thrown backwards by the crowd, hitting Zayns chest with a thump as the older sub steadies Harry by holding onto his shoulders.

"Sorry," Harry whispers, feeling a little calmer with Zayn next to him.

"Hey, watch where you're fucking going next time, mate," Zayn shouts at the guy responsible for shoving Harry.

The man's eyes glare deeply at Zayn before looking behind him to Liam. "Control your fucking sub, mate. He should know better than to talk to a Dom like that, you clearly haven't taught him his place."

Harry knows that he should stay quiet and let Liam deal with this.

He knows the guy is just an asshole and he shouldn't bother getting angry with him.

But he's just so tired.

So, so, so tired.

And he wants Louis to be buckling a black leather collar with a silver clasp around _his_ neck. And he wants people to leave Zayn alone just because he's a Sub. And he wants to be free to be who he actually is.

"Zayn knows his fucking place, _mate,_ and that's above you, because you will never be half the person Zayn is. I'm so sick of Dom's like you who think you are worthy of so much more than subs when you don't show us any kind of respect!" Harry shouts, not realising in his flurry of anger the way Zayn's hands tighten on Harry's shoulders or the way the crowd suddenly seem a lot more invested in what he has to say than in pushing and shoving to get a photo.

"According to your logic though I'd be showing you respect because you're a Dom. Or is the speculations true? Little Harry Styles is not only a man whore but also a fucking sub too," the man says darkly.

"Wh-what speculations?" Harry says quietly, losing his sense of bravado.

"I'm sorry but we are on a very tight schedule, if you'll excuse us," Liam says urgently, wrapping an arm over Harry's shoulders and pulling him along to the car, walking much quicker than they had before.

 _Shit, shit, shit, shit_ was all he could think.

Liam opens the door and guides both Harry and Zayn into the back of the car before getting in himself and slamming the door shut.

With shaky hands Harry quickly pulls his seat belt over his body, trying to click it into place to much avail, his hands shaking too much to be able to get it in.

"Here, I got it," Zayn says quietly, taking it from Harry and pushing it in before doing the same to himself.

Harry knows Zayn is bad at apologies and this is probably Zayn telling him that they're all good now.

"Um, c-can I call L-Louis?" Harry asks quietly, his breathing rapidly Increasing as the anxiety takes over his body.

"Hazza you need to calm down, okay? I need to call management quickly, maybe after then you can," Liam says sternly, stress lacing through his words.

"He can use mine," Zayn offers quietly, not wanting to provoke Liam's anger anymore.

"No. He can use mine when he's finished as I've already told him, I need silence for a few minutes whilst I make this call, don't argue with me," Liam orders again.

Harry feels an uncomfortable tug in the bottom of his belly, making his hands shake even more and tears spring to his eyes.

Liam was angry and stressed because of him. He potentially just outed himself to the whole world, and now Liam had to deal with that. 

Harry vaguely registers Liam talking importantly into the phone, but really hearing what he's saying and not really wanting to know what he's saying.

The sub feels an arm slide around his shoulders, looking up at Zayn with puffy eyes as the older boy smiles sadly at him, pulling him into his side.

Harry let's his body be pulled into Zayn's side, shutting his eyes and inhaling Zayn's comforting smell, the smell of comfort and safety. Familiarity.

He doesn't really realise he's crying until Zayn is pressing a kiss to the top of his head and wiping away the tears with the pad of his thumb.

Harry scared.

He's not ready to come out as a sub, not ready for the world to start treating him differently, not ready for the disappointment from his fans that he lied to them this whole time.

But more than that he's not ready for his angry management will be. He is so, _so_ , terrified for what they're going to say if this gets out.

Harry doesn't know how much time has passed when the car comes to a stop, doesn't really care.

"Wait here, do not move under any circumstances. I'll be back in a minute," Liam says shortly, quickly jumping out of the car and leaving the two subs inside with the driver.

"Um, could you pull the divider up please, sir?" Zayn asks politely, thanking the man when the divider does rise up, separating them from him.

"Z, I don't feel good," Harry says quietly, looking up into his friends eyes, not quite able to focus on them, "I'm sorry for telling Liam what happened, please don't be mad at me."

Zayn unplugs both of their seat belts and turns to face Harry properly, holding him by the shoulders. "Don't, don't apologize. You did the right thing, I put you in several positions you didn't wanna be in and I made you lie, that wasn't okay. I'm not mad at you I promise. What do you mean you don't feel well?"

Harry shrugs, looking out of the window before facing back to Zayn. "Feel funny."

"Like before when you told the boys you were a sub?" Zayn asks, frowning at Harry when he shrugs again.

"Maybe. Do you have drop pills on you?" Harry asks quietly, leaning forward to rest his head on Zayn's shoulder, shutting his eyes as he does so.

"Shit. I don't have any, babe. Do you really feel like you're going to drop?" Zayn asks, panic edging its way through his voice.

Harry just shrugs, his head clouding over a little. " 'm scared."

"About what?"

"Everything. Louis, Eleanor, management, me basically just telling everyone I'm a sub. Wish I was a Dom," Harry explains tiredly, his body feeling heavy.

"Fuck," Zayn mutters under his breath, "Harry try and stay awake, babe."

His words were becoming more slurred, a clear sign he was close to dropping.

Zayn pulls his phone out with one hand, the other supporting Harry, and pulls up Liam's contact, ringing it and swearing when it says he's on another line.

He keeps ringing until finally Liam answers him. 

"Hi-"

"What the hell, Zayn? If I'm on another call you know to wait until I call you back. I don't have time for this," Liam says harshly down the line.

"I know, I'm sorry but-"

"Zayn!-"

"Li will you shut up for two seconds! Harry needs to get to Louis now! He doesn't feel good and I'm worried he might be close to dropping. I know you're angry at me right now but can you just put that to the side for the time being!" Zayn says angrily down the phone.

"Okay, I'm sorry, Z. We'll talk later, I'm going to get Louis now. Are you okay with Harry in the car?" Liam asks, voice slightly softer than before.

"Yeah, I'm fine. He's just drowsy at the moment, he just need some pills and contact," Zayn says shakily.

"Okay, I'll just be a couple of minutes. Call me if you need, okay? Forget about what I said before, promise to call me if and when you need to, okay? I love you, Z," Liam says earnestly.

"I love you too, I'm sorry about earlier," Zayn says quietly.

"We'll talk about it later, baby. See you in a minute," Liam says softly again, hanging up.

Zayn sighs and presses a kiss to Harry's forehead. None of this was fair. Sub's shouldn't have two drops so close together. Harry shouldn't have to be hiding who he is. Zayn hated their management and if he was being truly honest, at this point he was only staying for the boys.

He wanted out to badly, but Harry needed it more. And Harry would never want it, so why should he?

"Li's gonna sort it out, babe, just hang in there," Zayn mutters.

Harry nods, anxiety coming over him in waves. What with the news of Eleanor and what Harry's hoping isnt but probably is the scandal he just created for himself, a huge crowd of people have swarmed arounf the car.

" 's too loud," Harry grumbles, pressing his head into Zayn's chest and holding his hands over his ears as Zayn tries his best to surround Harry and help block the sound out.

Both boy's flinch when a fan starts hitting on the glass window repeatedly, causing other fans to follow through and do the same.

"They're gonna smash the glass," Harry whines, shrinking against Zayn's hold.

Harry was scared, and he knew Zayn was too. The older boy was frozen staring at the window, eye's wide and fearful.

"Z? Zayn!" Harry calls, catching the Sub's eye, " 's okay. Not gonna get in, 'll be fine," he slurs, trying his hardest to stay aware and focus all of his energy onto Zayn.

Zayn nods, jumping when his phone rings again. "Li?"

"Hi, you need to ask the driver to go to the mandarin hotel, it's just around the corner. Get out with Harry and head in, the room's are booked under Louis' name, go straight to the room. Do you understand?" Liam asks seriously.

"Um, yeah. There's a lot of people here though, and if there's the same amount of people at the next location I don't know if me and Harry will be able to make it," Zayn says quietly, eyes back to the commotion outside the window.

"Sweetie I need you to trust yourselves, okay? You're going to be fine, you and Harry are strong, yeah? You've got each other and I have faith in you that you'll be fine. But you need to go now if Harry really is dropping, yeah? I'll be there soon, pup, I love you," Liam finishes.

"Okay, love you too," Zayn says before hanging up again and calling through to the driver and asking him to move up the road a little to where the hotel is.

"Okay, but I need you two to put your seatbelts on. I'm probably gonna have to use the horn to get these people out of the way, yeah? Don't be alarmed," the driver says once he's pulled the divider down.

Zayn nods and pulls Harry off of him, trying his hardest to ignore the whine that excapes him as he does so, and plugs both of their seatbelts in.

As the car slowly starts moving, Harry leans his head against Zayn's shoulder and looks up at him.

He could feel the fear running through both of them.

What if this was the end of everything?

The screaming and banging only got louder and more violent as they moved, and Harry hadn't even realised he and Zayn were gripping hands as tightly as they were until Zayn started softly rubbing his thumb over his hand.

They didn't have to drive for long, it was quite literally just around the corner from where they'd stopped previously, and much to both Harry and Zayn's dismay the crowd had just followed them there.

"Alright boys, off you go," the driver calls out, and Harry wishes he would offer to go out with them, but to his knowledge Harry is a Dom.

Which, oh. Harry had nearly forgotten with his Hazy mind, but he was suppossed to be a Dom, and right now he just looked like a complete mess.

Zayn pulled Harry's hoodie up over his head and placed some sunglasses on him, doing the same to himself. "Ready?"

Harry just nodded. "C'n I still hold your hand?"

Zayn felt his heart break a little. "Um, I guess if you walk in front of me and hold my hand behind your back so it looks like you're helping me it wouldn't look to weird." 

Harry nods and shuffles along, taking a deep breath before opening the door and jumping out, Zayn following closely behind.

They make their way through the crowd for the second time that day, Harry first again, and this time he decidedly doesn't listen to what the crowd are telling him. 

As soon as they get to the door of the hotel they go straight to the front dest where they find a woman. "Hi, um, we have a room booked under the name of Tomlinson?" Zayn says quietly.

They're still holding hands.

Harry thinks he might completely drop if he lets go.

"Sure, and your names are?"

"Um, Zayn Malik and Harry Styles," Zayn says.

"Perfect. Okay, I've printed another room key for you, but I've already given the others to the guests who arrived earlier so I can't give you two now. Is that all okay?"

"Yeah it's great, thank you so much," Zayn says, taking the piece of plastic from the woman with a smile and tugging Harry towards the lift.

The younger boy whines as the lift starts moving. 

"It's okay, babe. We'll be with Louis soon, yeah? Everything's gonna be okay," Zayn mutters, thanking the lords when the lift goes straight to their floor and doesn't stop for anyone.

He really doesn't need that right now.

They look at the number on the card and then follow the signs, quickly knocking on the door when they get there.

Harry's pretty much completely slumped against Zayn when the door finally opens.

"Shit."

-

Louis and Niall, along with Eleanor, had made it to the hotel pretty quickly, and after 20 minutes had passed and still the other three band members hadn't arrived, nerves were begining to rise.

"For fucks sake, I don't understand what is taking them so long. Or why none of them have texted us," Louis groans, probably for the tenth time that day.

"I know, you've said like a billion times," Niall groans back, turning over on his side and putting his head phones on.

Louis just rolls his eyes and goes back to pacing back and forth.

"Um, Louis?" 

Louis looks up to where Eleanor had been sitting on the chair in the room, minding her business up until now. "Yeah?"

"Um, is Harry a Sub?" she asks timidly.

Louis and Niall tense up, the irish Dom shoving his headphones off and sitting up right whilst Louis walks closer to her. "What the fuck kind of question is that?"

Eleanor flinches and looks down at her lap. "There's just this video thats trending off him on twitter. He referred to himself as a sub."

Louis snatches the phone out of her hand and presses play on the video, turing up the volume and holding up the screen to Niall as well.

Louis' heart aches as he watches Harry's small frame being shoved into Zayn's. It's hard to hear what's happening because of the screaming, but its clear as day when Harry says "I'm so sick of Dom's like you who think you are worthy of so much more than subs when you don't show us any kind of respect!". The video may be blurry and low quality, but anyone can distinguish Harry's low voice when he says that.

"Fuck," Niall swears, pulling the video back and watching it again to listen to it again.

"So it is true?" Eleanor asks again.

Louis holds in a groan and looks back up to the sub. Fear is racing through his veins and just as he goes to tell her where to mind her own business his phone starts ringing.

 _Please don't be management_ , he begs.

"Hello?"

"It's Liam. Have you seen-"

"Yeah, we've literally just seen it. Eleanor showed us. Can you put Harry on?" Louis rushes out.

"I'm not with Harry, Zayn's with him in the car. I had to go and talk to management as quickly as I could. It's s fucking mess, Lou. Are you in the hotel now?" Liam asks. He sounds stressed.

"Yeah, are Harry and Zayn okay in the car? Is someone else with them?" Louis asks, concerned. It really wasn't safe to leave two subs unattended in a vehicle, especially when they were Harry Styles and Zayn Malik.

"Not really. I mean the driver is with them and the door is locked and all that, they're safe. But Zayn just called to say Harry didn't feel well. He said he's worried he might drop. I'm gonna send them to you, okay? They should be there in like five minutes, the car is only around the corner, okay?"

Louis lets out a shaky breath. "Okay, I'll see you in a minute, yeah?"

"Um, yeah, I don't know how long I'll be but it shouldn't be too long. Whatever you do, don't get mad at Harry or Zayn. They're both pretty shaken up."

"I wouldn't, but okay, sure. See you," Louis says before hanging up and throwing the phone on the floor.

"Eleanor, you need to leave," Louis says, looking up to the girl.

"I-I can't," she stutters, looking up to Louis with wide eyes, "I'm on a contract to. If I break it there's consequences, I can't go somewhere else, they'll know."

The two Doms sigh. They'd both really wanted to hate the girl, but so far she'd pretty much done nothing other than what was asked of her, and she seemed pretty sweet. It also seemed like she didn't have much of a say with all of this.

"Okay, fine. But Harry and Zayn are coming in a minute and I don't want them to get freaked out by you being here so just, I don't know, try and just stay out of the way? And you cannot tell anybody what happens when they get here," Louis says firmly, making Eleanor tense a little and figit with the end of her skirt.

"Okay, I'm sorry," she whispers.

Before Louis has time to feel bad, their is a rapid knocking on the door and Louis swears before shooting over with Niall.

"Shit," Louis swears upon seeing Harry all but passed out against Zayn's body, "Harry? Sweetheart can you hear me?"

Harry whines and buries his head further into Zayn's shoulder.

"He can hear you, I think, he was talking to me a minute ago. I don't think he's actually gonna drop, he just needs some, um, drop pills, and some Dom contact. Obviously preferably you," Zayn relays tiredly, gripping Harry tighter in an attempt not to fall over, "Hazza, Louis is here, can you go over to him?"

Harry stirs a little at that and turns to look at Louis, gasping a little when he see's his Dom. "I'm sorry!" he blurts out.

"Shh, it's okay, c'mere," Louis says softly, opening his arms and wrapping them tightly around Harry when the boy falls forward into them, "It's all gonna be okay, baby."

Harry grips the back of Louis' t-shirt into his small fists, face resting on the juncture between Louis' neck and shoulder, inhaling the familair smell that was Louis as he tries to clear his mind.

Louis notices in the corner of his eye Niall pulling Zayn into the room and try to calm him down.

"L-Louis?" Harry whispers, "d-does everyone, um, know a-about wh-what I said?"

Louis wants to lie and tell Harry no-one knows. That no-one heard him and the whole world aren't currently spectating whether Harry Styles is actually a Sub.

But he can't. It's not fair. He'll find out eventually anyway.

"There was a video, babe, and it has gotten around, but it's okay. You don't need to worry about it, yeah?" Louis says calmly, tensing when Harry lets out a whine of discomfort.

"I-I'm not ready, Lou. Management is gonna, oh my god, management are gonna be- they're gonna be angry," Harry stutters, pulling back to look Louis in the eye.

Louis feels an overwhemingly large wave of sadness wash over him as he see's nothing but fear in Harry's eyes.

"It's okay, Haz. Management, we can deal with them another day. Not right now. We don't need to worry about them right now. And if you're not ready for the world to know the truth we can do something, okay? We can make a statement or something that it was just the slip of a tongue. Right now I need you to take some deep breaths for me, and I wanna get you inside the room so we can find some drop pills for you. Do you feel like you could drop?"

Harry shakes his head. "Don't feel as bad as the other time. Just, um, feel a bit sick and shaky. My head's clearer now you're here."

Louis smiles. "Good, I'm glad. Just a, um, heads up, Eleanor is inside. She said, um, she's not allowed to leave yet. That okay?"

Harry looks a little defeated but shrugs anyways. "I guess so."

"Good boy. C'mon then," Louis says, holding Harry's hand and pulling him in.

Harry holds on tightly to Louis' hand, head hanging forwards so that his hair just slightly falls into his eyes, which are trained on the floor.

His figure is small and hunches in on himself, trying to avoid the stares of everyone else.

Louis leads him into the bathroom, sitting him up on the island next to the sink and wiping his tears away again, pulling up some tissue to Harry's nose. "Blow for me, sweetie."

Harry does, face flushing red a little when the snot built up from crying comes out into the tissue.

Louis just smiles and wipes at Harry nose, throwing the tissue in the bin and quickly washing his hands.

"Do you have any drop pills in your suitcase?" Louis asks.

Harry looks down at his lap, spinning a ring round on his finger before looking back up at Louis. "Um, I don't have any on me at the moment, sorry."

The Dom frowns. "It's okay, don't be sorry. We'll get you some of your own ones tomorrow, yeah? You should always have some, just in case. Is it okay if I quickly get some from Zayn?"

Harry nods.

"Okay, stay here," Louis says, pressing a kiss to Harry's forehead before and leaving to find the rest of the boys.

He finds Zayn slumped down by the side of the bed, face buried into his knees, Niall beside him with a hand over his shoulders looking a little overwhelmed.

Louis meets Niall's eyes and frowns a little, _is he okay?_

Niall shakes his head, and Louis quickly realises Zayn is crying, arms wrapped around his legs.

Louis squats in front of Zayn, hands resting on Zayn's knees. "Hey, what's wrong?"

Zayn whimpers and holds himself tighter, making himself as small as possible, which Louis realises is way smaller than he used to be.

"Z? Can you look up for me darling?" Louis asks softly.

Zayn looks up slowly, looking fearfully at Louis.

"Good boy. Can you tell me what's wrong?" Louis asks again, voice very soft, one he usually only uses on kids and more recently Harry.

"L-Liam was m-mad at me, a-a-and now he isn't here! I-I think he m-might be, um, drinking," Zayn says quietly.

Louis feels his blood run cold a little. "What do you mean he might be drinking?"

Zayn squeaks and shakes his head, burying his head back onto his knees.

"Hey, hey, no, it's okay, Zayn. I'm not mad at you, but you have to tell me what you meant? Has Liam been drinking a lot recently?" Louis asks.

Zayn looks back up hesitantly. "S-Sometimes before, um, before concerts or, um, like, in-interviews and award shows. He doesn't mean it!"

Louis doesn't think this day can possibly get any worse. He looks over to Niall who looks just as shocked as he does.

"Okay, we're gonna talk some more about this later. Have you tried calling Liam?" 

Zayn shakes his head. "I called him when we were in the car, and he said he wouldn't be too long. But he's not here."

Louis nods, running over the situation in his head.

Harry was in the bathroom, and he needed drop pills and contact with Louis.

Zayn was clearly very distraught, and Niall didn't look like he was particularly prepared to deal with this himself.

Liam potentially had a drinking problem, and everyone was unaware of his whereabouts.

Louis wanted to scream.

"Okay, I need to get Harry some drop pills, and then I'm gonna bring him in here and he's gonna sit with me for a bit, how about you sit with Niall for a minute or two, and then when Harry's down a little I can call Liam?" Louis suggests.

Zayn nods. "There should be some in the side pocket in my suitcase."

Louis smiles, wiping Zayn's tears away much as he had done with Harry earlier. "Thank you, z, that's really kind. I'll just be a minute, yeah?"

Zayn nods again and Louis turns to Niall. "You okay for a minute?"

Niall nods. "Fine, um, I'm just a bit worried about-" Niall points to where Eleanor is sitting.

Louis wants to punch someone. 

"Right, I'll deal with that, too," Louis says, walking over to Eleanor.

"Hi, um, how much of that did you just hear?" Louis asks tiredly.

"Everything?" Eleanor says hesitantly, "um, if it's possible, you could book another room and I can just go there for the night and come back quickly in the morning before management get here?"

Louis smiles gratefully. "That would be amazing. Please don't tell anyone anything you've just heard, okay? Not about Harry, not about Zayn, not about Liam. You can't even tell, I don't know, like your mum or anything, okay? This stays with you."

Eleanor nods. "Yeah, of course. Should I just go down to reception and ask for another room?"

"Yeah, here, take my card, and book it under a random name, not mine. And don't stop to talk to anyone, you've got my number if something happens and you need help, don't hesitate to call. And please don't lose my card."

Eleanor smiles. "I won't, thank you, and um, I hope everything is okay. I'll see you tomorrow."

Louis nods and sees her out, going over to Zayn's suitcase and grabbing the pills before finally rejoining Harry in the bathroom.

"Hey, sorry that took so long," he says, walking in and smiling fondly when he sees Harry swinging his legs a little.

"Thought you forgot about me," Harry pouts, smiling cheekily when Louis just ruffles his hair.

"As if I could. Here, open your mouth," the Dom says, fondness running through him when Harry opens his mouth with his little tongue poking out.

He places two tablets on said cute tongue, filling a glass with some water that he found in the cabinet and holding it up to Harry's mouth. "Can you drink some of this?"

Harry closes his mouth around the rim of the glass, holding two hands over Louis' as he drinks the water given him.

"Thank you," Harry says quietly, humming appreciatively when Louis wipes some water from his chin.

"You're very welcome, angel," Louis says fondly, taking the glass and placing it on the ledge.

Harry feels suddenly quite shy, blushing when he notices Louis just staring at him. "Stoppp," he whines quietly, making Louis laugh softly.

"Sorry, you're just really beautiful," Louis says honestly, running his hand through Harry's curls and leaning forward to press a sweet kiss to his lips.

They don't take it any further, knowing now really isn't the time or place. "C'mon then, you minx. Let's go and have a cuddle on the bed. Just to warn you, Zayn is a little stressed right now, so don't get upset or worried if he's not himself, okay?"

Harry nods, letting Louis pull him into his arms, wrapping his legs around Louis waist, arms loosely around his shoulders, head flopping onto his shoulder too. "Will you make sure he's okay?"

Louis holds Harry tightly. "Of course, baby, I'll make sure he's okay. You feeling any better?"

Harry hums as they leave the bathroom. "Yeah, because of you. Thank you, Lou."

"You're so cute, Hazza. You're very welcome, well done for using your manners so well."

Louis sits down on the bed, back up against the head board, helping Harry to curl up on his lap where he ends up facing Louis, legs crossed behind Louis back, head on Louis' chest.

The Dom strokes Harry's back up and down, the other settling in Harry's hair.

"You're hair needs cutting, Haz, its starting to flop over at the top," Louis laughs, flicking Harry's hair over and over each side of the subs head.

Harry leans back and frowns a little at Louis. "Sorry, does it look weird?"

Louis stops laughing and ruffles the hair instead. "You could never looks weird, Hazza. I can ask Lou to give you a trim tomorrow?"

Harry looks down, shrugging a little.

"Or I can not ask Lou? Did you want to keep growing it?" Louis asks.

Harry shrugs again, face going red.

"What- hey, no, don't get embarrassed, sweetheart. Did you want to grow your hair out? Is that why you've been wearing headbands so much recently?" Louis asks, feeling really bad for laughing at him now.

Harry looks shyly up at the Dom. "Maybe? I just liked letting it get longer. 'm not sure how everyone would feel about me having long hair though. It's a bit girly."

Louis runs a hand up and down at Harry's side. "If you want to have long hair, do it. There's no rules on what hair cut girls and guys can have, gender can be fluid, you know. And fuck what management or the fans say, if you want to grow your hair out, I'll support you. Could even grow mine a little at the start?"

Harry's eyes widen. "You'd do that?"

"If it would make you feel more comfortable, than yeah, of course," Louis says sweetly, "now, come back here and relax. No more talking."

Harry smiles and goes back to cuddling Louis.

As he's drifting off, he vaguely feels the bed moving, two more people joing them on the bed, and everything feels a little more okay.

He doesn't feel like he's drowning now.

And that's kind of a great feeling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really am sorry for the long wait, I hope this was okay for you all.
> 
> Let me know what you thought by commenting, they always make my day!!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading XXX
> 
> (Also what are you genuine opinions about Eleanor, like in real life not in this book, do you like her not not and why, personally I've always felt indifferent towards her and I've always felt quite bad for her because if she and Louis are actually together it must be so hard for all the larries to constantly be hating on her, but then the other day I saw some stuff about her being racist and rude towards fat people, I'd just like to know your opinions x) 
> 
> ALSO the pics of Harry and Niall!!!!!! It really looks like them and it makes me so happy that they're still friends !!!


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